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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMEEIOA. 



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A 

REUNION 

OF 

Ministers and Churches, 

HELD AT 

Gardnersville, May 14-17, 1881. 

"UNITY OF SPIRIT." 



PUBLISHED FOR THE COMPILERS. 



|( JUL 1 

PHILADELPHIA : 

LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 

1881. 






^RIGHTED. I88l . 




THE LIBRARY 
Or CONGRttS 



WASHINGTON 



PREFACE. 



A RE-UNION. 

The character and design of the occasion 
which called forth the sentiments and reminis- 
cences contained in this unpretentious little 
volume, are sufficiently indicated in the follow- 
ing quotations from the Programme : 

" This gathering is intended to embrace all ministers 
and churches whose relations to this Church and com- 
munity have been such as to make it a matter of in- 
terest for them to be personally or representatively 
present on the occasion. 

" The object will be to refresh the memories and re- 
vive the associations of other years; to rescue from 
hopeless oblivion the yet available- fragments of local 
history, especially the facts of religious development, 
church extension, and important biographical reminis- 
cences ; and to blend the experiences of the past and 
present, as a means of instruction and encouragement 
for the future. 

" In aiming at this object, all who are to participate 
are respectfully requested to be loyal to truth and 
right ; to be fair and faithful to realities and tenden- 

(in) 



IV PREFACE. 

cies ; to be kind, generous, magnanimous, to all per- 
sons and parties ; to keep the object constantly and 
distinctly in view ; and yet no one will be expected to 
stultify himself by any narrowness of thought, feeling, 
or utterance, as if a sensitive conservatism demanded 
restraint or sacrifice," 



HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 



" He that is first in his own cause seemeth just ; but 
his neighbor cometh and searcheth him." 

Our Hartwick brethren, in their " Memorial," 
have left us, in our Re-union, a single alternative 
— to correct, or to silently acquiesce in their 
inaccuracies. Fidelity and justice to all con- 
cerned require that some of the statements of 
that publication, which bear upon us, should be 
noticed. Of the work as a whole nothing 
needs to be said. We have no wish to detract 
an iota from its merits. Nothing but self-de- 
fence, by placing truth within the reach of all 
who care to understand it, will here be at- 
tempted. 

I. The Memorial assumes that both the 
Hartwick and Franckean Synods were irregu- 
larly inaugurated, because the ministers by 
whom they were organized did not obtain 
"letters of dismission" from the ecclesiastical 
bodies of which they had been members. 
This is a grave charge, expressed by an equiv- 
(5) 



6 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 

ocal term. Doubtless the writer had in his 
own mind some idea of order, from which the 
proceedings in .question were thought to be a 
digression. And no one will dispute his right 
to hold or to declare such an opinion. But 
so me of his readers may venture to inquire 
whether the distinguished gentlemen who 
founded those Synods were not as competent 
to judge respecting regularity as he is; and 
whether it is either courteous or just to set up 
an individual opinion, unsupported by any pre- 
tence of authority, as a standard of condemna- 
tion against so large a number — one against 
more than a score — and that, too, in a treatise 
of historical interest, may well be doubted. 
The general question of regularity will not be 
discussed. There are cases in which it is in- 
vested with sacred importance. There are 
instances in which it is shamefully abused. 
And there are occurrences respecting which the 
thought of regularity is ridiculously absurd. 
Our author may classify the proceedings under 
review as he pleases. But before we bow in 
silent acquiescence to his wholesale assump- 
tion, we shall be glad to have him name a 
single instance in the entire history of pro- 



HISTORICAL FIDELITY. J 

gressive organizations, in which persons leaving 
one association to found another for reformatory 
purposes, ever asked or received letters of dis- 
mission. 

Did Christ and the Apostles ? Did Luther 
and his associate Reformers ? 

2. The Memorial assumes that the founders 
of the Franckean Synod were "hasty and in- 
considerate" in this movement, " inasmuch" 
as they were active in the session of the Hart- 
wick Synod of 1836, while it " does not appear 
from the records," except a certain specified 
resolution, that there existed any cause for 
" alienation." And in a similarly assumptive 
manner, it is stated that there could have been 
no reasons for a separation arising from differ- 
ences of opinion respecting revivals, temper- 
ance, etc., because the Hartwick Synod " had 
planted itself unequivocally upon the total 
abstinence pledge, and in nearly all the congre- 
gations total abstinence societies had been or- 
ganized." Our author does not say whence 
he obtained his information on this subject ; 
but it seems likely that here again he had re- 
course to the " records." And as these several 
topics must be disposed of in a group, it may 



8 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 

as well be said respecting all, that such conclu- 
sions, derived from exclusively such sources, 
are entirely out of place in what purports to be 
authentic history. Of course, no ingenuous 
mind would question the credibilty of the 
"records" of ecclesiastical bodies, unless falsi- 
fication might be sustained by overwhelming 
testimony. And so, too, family records may 
be presumed to be reliable. But is it likely 
that family quarrels will be registered in family 
records? What credit would a historian be 
entitled to who declared without qualification 
that no domestic broils had ever disturbed the 
peace of a given family ; and gave as his reason 
for the declaration that the records of that fam- 
ily contained no traces of strife, or of causes 
leading to it ? Just as much credit, and no 
more, as our author is entitled to, when he as- 
sumes that the Minutes of Synods indicate the 
measure of discord or harmony prevalent among 
their members. A member of the Hartwick 
Synod, just returned from the meeting of that 
body at West Camp, stated within the last hour 
that certain proceedings were not to appear in 
the Minutes, because at some future time they 
might be used to the injury of the party con- 



HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 9 

cerned. And certainly the body may be com- 
mended for prudence in acting so thoughtfully. 
But if the future historian is controlled by the 
precedents of our author, he will confidently 
assert that upon the subject in question no dif- 
ference of opinion existed. 

Now, the simple truth is, and it is abundantly 
capable of proof, that such became the deeply 
rooted divergencies of conviction and purpose 
among the members of that body at that time, 
and that, too, respecting the very means and 
movements to which allusion has been made, 
that continued co-operation in good faith was 
an impracticability. And the antagonistic ele- 
ments which had been multiplying and strength- 
ening for years, were brought into final and 
fatal collision in the session of 1836, the very 
session in which our author finds no appearan- 
ces of " alienation." The existing dissatisfac- 
tions and " alienations " had not, indeed, been 
spread out upon the " records," but they were, 
nevertheless, sources of serious and ceaseless 
embarrassment. The President was elected 
during that session with a view to conciliation. 
And immediately after the organization, the 
memorable anti-slavery paper which was pre- 



IO HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 

sented called forth a flourish of weapons, by 
which the timid were terrified. This was the 
decisive moment. The disposition made of 
that paper was the " last straw which broke the 
camel's back." Controversy ended ; but it was 
succeeded by a lull, which clearly enough por- 
tended the coming storm. The idea of re- 
formation was abandoned, because it was felt 
that the time for revolution had come. 

But our motto is " Historical Fidelity!' Ac- 
cordingly, let us leave no room for misappre- 
hension respecting a matter of so much mo- 
ment. More was true of the Hartwick Synod, 
and of the churches within its bounds, than the 
" Memorial'* claims for them, especially respect- 
ing temperance. All the ministers were the 
friends of this good cause, and a large propor- 
tion of them were its ardent advocates. And 
so, too, there were not only societies existing 
within the limits of all the congregations, but 
there were among the members not a few earn- 
est temperance workers. And yet it must be 
said that our author's conclusion from such 
facts, that differences of opinion respecting tem- 
perance could have afforded no reason for sepa- 
ration, is as groundless as the "baseless fabri 



HISTORICAL FIDELITY. II 

of a vision." Said the pastor of one of the 
churches, " I have seven deacons, all of whom 
get drunk." That was probably the only church 
of which such a statement could have been 
truthfully made. But then cases of intoxica- 
tion among church members were not infre- 
quent. And just here came the issue. On 
the one hand it was claimed that drunkenness 
was a sin, and should be treated as such — that 
it should be a bar to the communion — a just 
cause for excommunication ; while on the other 
hand, practically, and as a matter of public in- 
struction, it was held that temperance must not 
be allowed to disturb the peace of the churches. 
Said the President of the body, " We must keep 
temperance out of our churches." 

And in a manner more or less similar, every 
topic mentioned, and others besides, furnished 
reasons for the deprecated rupture. Whether 
those reasons, subjected to thorough scrutiny, 
would justify the movement to which they con- 
tributed, is a question not here to be decided. 
The only point insisted upon is that our au- 
thor's attempts to show that the movementwas 
" hasty and inconsiderate," utterly fail to sus- 
tain his conclusion. 



12 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 

3. The " confessional" matter, in view of the 
inherent importance of the subject, the indefi- 
niteness of its treatment, and its well nigh 
limitless implications, might seem to demand 
most serious attention. In reality, however, it 
amounts to nearly nothing. From the first 
sensational thrill to this last attempt to throw 
historical sanction around the charge that the 
Franckean Synod from its organization had as- 
sailed the Augsburg Confession, the whole 
controversy grew out of and was carried on by 
misapprehension and misrepresentation. The 
real and the only difference between the 
Synods respecting this document, from the first 
and all the way through, was not whether as 
properly understood it was doctrinally objec- 
tionable, but whether it was not objectionably 
liable to be misunderstood. Precisely this lia- 
bility the Franckean Synod sought to avoid by 
the articles adopted, and the Hartwick Synod 
endeavored to guard against precisely the same 
liability by the " Notes" which were published 
shortly after. This is the true state of the 
case, and this is the whole of it. The only 
real "confessional" question which ever existed 
between the two Synods, was the great denomi- 



HISTORICAL FIDELITY. I 3 

national question agitating the Church every- 
where, whether a change of phraseology is not 
preferable to perpetual ambiguity. That the 
pressure was felt elsewhere as well as here, the 
"Recension of the Augsburg Confession," the 
" Definite Platform, " any number of Church 
Declarations, and almost ceaseless contro- 
versy, are surely sufficient proof. 

And now, if the reader inquires how it was 
possible for intelligent men to mistake a differ- 
ence of opinion upon a question of propriety 
for a difference of doctrine, the answer will not 
be difficult. If our author, at this late day, 
contemplating the subject from the grave 
standpoint of a historian, has been thus misled, 
it is surely not surprising that the parties, dur- 
ing the heat of the excitement, should mutu- 
ally have given occasion for such misapprehen- 
sion. 

4. Surprise has its limits. And it may well 
be asked, whether the point has not been 
reached beyond which blunders cease to excite 
surprise. If the reader's susceptibilities still 
hold out, he may, perhaps, realize an additional 
sensation by reading what our author says 
about the final defection of all but one of the 



14 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 

founders of the Franckean Synod. Only the 
charity which " believeth all things," will dis- 
cern in these statements any but a motive to 
fix reproach upon the organization to which 
they relate. And they are the more to 
be deprecated, because it is well nigh impos- 
sible to meet accusations against the departed, 
without disturbing the feelings of surviving 
friends. But this sad necessity is a common 
experience. And those who are least respon- 
sible for the wrongs which are supposed to 
exist, not unfrequently are most outraged by 
the unscrupulous attempts made to taint the 
reputation or the memory of those upon whom 
they are falsely charged. But whoever suffers 
when truth is assailed, it must be vindicated. 
And if it was the author's aim to crowd the 
largest number of inaccuracies in the smallest 
space, the paragraph before us may be cited as 
a rare example of success. And yet it contains 
some truth. It is true that " Rev. John D. Law- 
yer was, in after years, deposed by that body 
for heresy." And it is just as true that Rev. 
John D. Lawyer for years, while a member of 
the Hartwick Synod, cherished the same heresy 
without being deposed. Whether those who 



HISTORICAL FIDELITY. I 5 

use, or those against whom they are used, are 
most injured when such weapons are called in 
requisition, the reader may be left to decide. 
This retort is befitting, not only because it is 
merited, but because it discloses the fact. And 
yet justice must be done to the Hartwick 
Synod. John D. Lawyer went into that body 
as heretical as he went out of it ; as heretical 
as he was when he was deposed by the Franck- 
ean Synod. He never was sound in the faith. 
For more than a decade, in three different 
Synods, he held, and to some extent sought to 
propagate, his heresies without disturbance. 
And yet our author would stigmatize the origin 
and history of the body by which the false doc- 
trines of this man were ferreted out, by oppro- 
briously bringing to view his deposition ! 

It is true, too, that Rev. L. Swackhamer re- 
turned to and died a member of the Hartwick 
Synod. And what of that ? Was it discredit- 
able to him or to the body of which he had 
been a member, to transfer his relations to that 
Synod after he had taken charge of a church 
within its bounds ? Have our brethren aban- 
doned the rule about which they have been so 
sensitive and so strenuous ? There were, in- 



1 6 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 

deed, other features of the last experiences of 
this dear brother, which entitle his memory to 
very different treatment from that it has re- 
ceived in the " Memorial." And as for Rev. W. 
Ottman, the admission charged upon him has 
not the semblance of truth in it. Nothing is 
more certain than that he remained a firm and 
ardent friend of the Synod to the end of his 
life. 

Rev. P. Wieting was well enough known in 
and beyond the bounds of both synods, and it 
is sufficiently sure that his worth will be per- 
petuated by other means, so that no patroniz- 
ing eulogy was needed in such a work as the 
Memorial. 

And it is strange that the wisdom of silence 
respecting unappreciated merit is not more 
frequently exemplified. But if discretion is as 
rare as accuracy, were it not for the protest of 
truth to the contrary, it might be a relief to ac- 
cept even superfluous compliments without 
discount. A Nestor in the body of which he 
was a member, this venerable man indeed was, 
but for very different reasons than those for 
which this classic name is applied to him by 
our author. He did not lead his synod as a 



HISTORICAL FIDELITY. I J 

body into the General Synod. He favored the 
movement, but he neither originated nor con- 
trolled it. That movement was thoroughly dis- 
cussed during several sessions, and the final 
action was taken with considerable unanimity. 
It was not carried by management nor by per- 
sonal influence. But if there was one member 
who was more earnest and decided than others 
were in favor of it, that member was not Rev. 
P. Wetting, but Rev. N. Van Alstine. 

5. Of course, the late "efforts to effect an 
organic union" between the two Synods re- 
quired our author's attention. And, as might 
have been expected, he assumes that those 
efforts failed " through the want of proper ac- 
tion on the part" of the Franckean Synod. 

This assumption, it must be confessed, seems 
much more plausible than its antecedents. 
The records, at least, do favor it. But things 
are not always what they seem. The "records" 
in this matter, no more than in others, contain 
all the facts. There are indisputable facts out- 
side of the "records" which place the failure in 
a very different light. The question has been 
asked whether the entire movement did not 
originate in the idea of management. But, 
2 



15 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 

however that may have been, it is certain that 
while there was no failure of favorable "action" 
on the part of the Hartwick Synod, there was 
practical hostility to the ostensible object con- 
templated by the union. Purposes were indi- 
cated far less loving in their aspects than were 
the resolutions passed ; far more in accordance 
with the spirit and sentiments which pervade 
the " Memorial," as also other more recent de- 
velopments. 

To those whose information has been wholly 
derived from the "records," it doubtless 
must appear that the failure to effect a union 
was due to the manner in which the matter 
was disposed of by the Franckean Synod. 
But whoever has felt interest enough in the 
history of that movement to examine it thor- 
oughly, will inevitably be led to the following 
conclusions : First y that the Hartwick Synod, 
whether they desired it or not, were not pre- 
pared for it. Second, that if the Franckean 
Synod evinced any aversion to the union, it 
arose from the conviction that if effected, it 
would only be a union in name. Third, that 
however desirable such a union might be, 
however certain that it must ultimately be 



HISTORICAL FIDELITY. I9 

brought about, the time for its consummation 
had not yet come. 

6. Great prominence is given in the " Memo- 
rial " to the evils connected with and growing 
out of the litigation in which, subsequent to 
the organization of the Franckean Synod, a 
number of churches were involved. The idea 
is carried, and evidently was intended to be 
carried, that for all those evils this body was 
to blame. And clearly the decisions of the 
courts are relied on to justify this conclusion. 
We shall have nothing to say here respecting 
the right or the wrong of these decisions. But 
against the assumption that the edict of a civil 
tribunal is to be in any sense regarded as a 
standard of moral rectitude, a decided protest 
is entered. The principle is not only ridicu- 
lous — it is monstrous. Jesus Christ was con- 
demned by the highest civil authority, and so 
was Martin Luther. And it is at least suppos- 
able that modern courts are capable of equal 
outrages upon right and justice. 

No disposition is felt to defend the one body, 
or to criminate the other, so far as that un- 
fortunate litigation was concerned. But our 
author's logic in arriving at his conclusion 



20 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 

needs a passing notice. It reminds one of what 
was frequently said during the w r ar of the re- 
bellion, that all the blood and treasure ex- 
pended in that dread struggle might have been 
avoided, if the North had simply allowed the 
South to have her own way. Very likely. It 
is, indeed, quite probable that if the supremacy 
of the slave power had been conceded, the 
Union might have been preserved without the 
war. And so, too, might the Church of Rome 
have remained undisturbed by the revolutions 
of the sixteenth century, if our great Reformer 
had not assailed its corruptions. Now, our 
author is indeed a Southern man ; and yet we 
will do him the justice to believe, that in that 
great sectional contest he was not so blinded 
as to blame the North for all the evils of the 
war. But respecting the subject before us, 
upon which he has so assumptively expressed 
himself, it is not easy, if indeed it is possible, to 
exonerate him from absurdities equally ridicu- 
lous. 

7. The " Historical Address " alone has been 
under review. Our author was the chosen 
historian of the body to do this work. It was 
delivered before the Synod, and indorsed by 



HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 21 

it. Accordingly the Synod, as such, is respon- 
sible for what it contains. It may seem strange, 
and it is very strange, that such inaccuracies 
should have been published to the world with 
such indorsement. There is, however, an ex- 
planation, and in the judgment of charity, the 
only one which can be suggested from the nature 
of the case. It certainly is entitled to some 
consideration, both as to its bearings upon the 
author and upon the Synod. 

The writer had no personal knowledge of 
the affairs about which he wrote, as at the time 
they occurred he was a resident of another 
and a distant part of the country — South 
Carolina. Since he has been a member of the 
Hartwick Synod, his associations and his 
means of information have been mainly limited 
to that body. And it is confidently believed 
that had such a work as the " Memorial " been 
written by either of the venerable men who 
controlled its counsels during the days of syn- 
odical strife, it would have been pervaded by 
less partisan feeling and purpose than charac- 
terize the present volume. 

And now about the Synod. As the mem- 
bers have made themselves responsible for 



22 HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 

the work done by their historian, if there are 
any extenuating circumstances, they are en- 
titled to the benefit of them. 

Of the body as constituted when the " His- 
torical Address' 7 was delivered, there was but 
one member who was on the ground and in 
condition to have anything like a full and fair 
understanding of that ecclesiastical contest at 
the time it occurred. For this statement abso- 
lute certainty is not claimed, yet it is confi- 
dently believed to be correct. All but that one 
have since become members of the body. No 
inconsiderable portion of them are immigrants 
from other states, while a decided majority of 
the balance were at that time not even novi- 
tiates in the sacred profession: 

These facts respecting the author and the 
Synod do certainly afford an explanation of 
the errors noticed, but whether they are to be 
accepted as a palliation or not, the reader must 
be left to judge. 

Another strange thing — perhaps in keeping 
with all the rest — must be mentioned. In the 
general list of the members of the body, as 
given in the "Memorial, r the name of that one 
member who only had " a perfect knowledge 



HISTORICAL FIDELITY. 



23 



of all things from the very first," and whose 
understanding in the indorsement of the 
" Historical Address" may not be challenged — 
in that list, the name of that one member is not 
found. Of this strange fact no explanation 
will be offered— none is needed from us. If 
silence respecting all the other errors named 
had been deemed equally justifiable, the neces- 
sity for these strictures would have been super- 
seded. 




MINISTERIAL CHILDREN OF 
THE CHURCH. 



Sharon— as it was, embracing the territory 
which now constitutes the two towns of Sharon 
and Seward — has been a fruitful garden of the 
Lord. Within a little more than half a cen- 
tury it has furnished twenty-one men for the 
Lutheran ministry alone. So far as our in- 
formation extends, the following names furnish 
a complete 

LIST. 

Adam Crownse, 1 
Nicholas Van Alstine, 
Levi Sternberg, 
William Ottman, 1 
David Ottman, 1 
Marcus W. Empie, 
Marcus Kling, 
John Rosenberg, 1 
Daniel Van Alstine, 

Statt, 1 

Perry, 1 

1 Departed. 

(24 



MINISTERIAL CHILDREN. 2$ 

W. H. Shelland, 

J. A. Rosenberg, 

O. D. S. Marcley, 

John Kling, 

J. H. Weber, . 

J. W. Young, 

S. W. Young, 

H. Strail, 

Sefferenas Ottman, 

George Young. 
Besides the above, the immediate fruit of the 
field, several others should be mentioned, who 
went out from churches planted and fostered 
by the church in this place : 

A. Wieting, 
G. W. Porter, 

L. E. Densmore, 

B. Fake, / 
W. G. Thrall. 

Two young men of decided promise died 
during their course of studies, with the minis- 
try in view : 

David Rosenberg, 
Shoemaker. 
One or two entered upon their studies for 

1 Departed. 



26 MINISTERIAL CHILDREN. 

the sacred profession, and turned aside to other 
callings. 

Of this number some were never in connec- 
tion with the Franckean Synod ; some were, 
but are not now, having other ecclesiastical re- 
lations ; two are no longer properly in the 
ministry. But the purpose of the present pub- 
lication will be subserved by these general 
statements. Only those who have departed 
this life will be indicated by reference. 




THE SISTERHOOD OF 
- CHURCHES. 



Entire correctness is not claimed for the 
following exhibit, either as to order or date. 
Perfection out of confusion is not a human 
practicability. It is given as the best that can 
be, and it is believed to be a close approxima- 
tion to historical truthfulness. 

st. john's evangelical Lutheran church of 

sharon, new york, 
Was organized 1775, by Rev. P. N. Somers. 

Pastors. 
Rev. P. N. Somers, 
" H. Meoler, 
" A. Crownse, 
" P. Wieting. 

During the ministry of Rev. Wieting, in the 
year 1837, the division, consequent upon the 
organization of the Franckean Synod, occurred. 
The part of the church which adhered to the 
Hartwick Synod, retained the original title, and 

(27) 



28 SISTERHOOD OF CHURCHES. 

exists under that title now. As it is proposed 
to trace the growth and multiplication of the 
part which remained under the pastoral care of 
Mr. Wieting only, it will suffice to say, that the 
present pastor of St. John's is Rev. M. J, Stover. 
The field which now constituted Mr. Wiet- 
ing's charge was soon divided into two 
churches. 

GARDNERSVILLE, ORGANIZED 1 845. 

Pastors. 
Rev. P. Wieting, 
" P. H. Turner, 
" C. Diefendorf, 
" A. N. Daniels, 
" H. L. Dox. 

LAWYERSVILLE, ORGANIZED 1 845. 

Pastors, 
Rev. P. Wieting, 
" M. Kling. 

SHARON, WISCONSIN, ORGANIZED 1 845 

Pastors. 
Rev. David Ottman, 
" M. W. Empie, 
" R. Smith, 
" Coons, 



SISTERHOOD OF CHURCHES. 



2 9 



Rev. Shaeffer, 
" H. L. Dox, 
" L. Ford, 
" D. H. Snowden. 

ARGUSVILLE, ORGANIZED I 839. 

Pastors. 
Rev. P. Wieting, 
" J. D, Lawyer, 
" M. Kling, 
" J. R. Sikes, 
" W. A.Julian, 
Marsh, 
" A. L. Bridgman. 
" L. Ford, 

LEESVILLE, ORGANIZED 184O. 

Pastors. 
Rev. P. Wieting, 
" G. Young, 
" N. Borst, 
" J. A. Rosenberg, 
" W. H. Shelland, 
" G. W. Hemperly, 
" J. H. Weber, 
" C. Diefendorf, 
" S. W. Young, 
" S. Bruce. 



30 SISTERHOOD OF CHURCHES. 

CENTER VALLEY, ORGANIZED 1 84 1. 

Pastors. 
Rev. D. Ottman, 
" J. D. Lawyer, 
" M. Kling, 
" N. Borst, 
" J. A. Rosenberg, 
" J- Kling, 
" J. H. Weber, 
" C. Diefendorf, 
" S. Bruce. 

LITTLE YORK, ORGANIZED 1 848. 

Pastors. 
Rev. M. Kling, 
" J R. Sifes, 

" M. Kling. 

At the meeting of the Re-union the above 
seven churches were all of which reckoning 
was made, as having been planted and nurtured 
by the pastoral labors and care of Rev. P. 
Wieting. But as the result of a free inter- 
change of views at one of the meetings, it was 
ascertained that the churches of Freysbush 
and Starkville were both brought into exist- 
ence and in their infancy sustained by his min- 



SISTERHOOD OF CHURCHES. 3 I 

istrations. So that there are ten churches now 
where there was but one when he commenced 
his ministerial labors here. All these churches 
have good houses of worship ; some have 
parsonages, all are self-sustaining, and together 
furnish an aggregate of nearly twelve hundred 
members. Counting those who have gone to 
other churches, and those who have gone to 
the church triumphant, it does not seem im- 
probable that the grand total of the member- 
ship does not vary much from fifteen hundred. 

The Re-union contemplated a review of this 
field as thus unfolded. The result of that 
gathering will, in part, be found in the follow- 
ing pages. The great Re-union, in joyful an- 
ticipation, will disclose the rest. 

Between three and four hundred years of 
ministerial labor, at a very moderate estimate, 
have been devoted to different portions of the 
great vineyard by those who were called to the 
work in this field. Thousands have heard the 
word from their lips, and the harvest will de- 
termine how many have believed and will be 
saved. 



THE RE-UNION. 



OPENING EXERCISES. 

At the appointed hour a goodly number of 
the expected guests' from abroad and a respect- 
able congregation from the place assembled. 
The church was moderately decorated, and 
suitable mottoes were seen here and there. In 
every aspect it was a meeting of pleasure, and 
all hearts were hopeful of a delightful occasion. 

As the senior member of the fraternity, 
Rev. N. Van Alstine conducted the devo- 
tional exercises. The scripture read was ap- 
propriate ; the hymn sung was impressive ; the 
prayer was tender, comprehensive, and inspir- 
ing. After a second singing, the pastor gave 
utterance to Words of Welcome, the topic 
being 

LOCAL INFLUENCES. 

Our present Re- union rests upon local in- 
fluences. I say our Re-union, because provi- 
dentially, and by many strong and tender rela- 

(32) 



WORDS OF WELCOME. 33 

tions, extending over nearly the entire period to 
be brought under review, I feel myself closely 
identified with you. And yet, for reasons 
which will soon become apparent, it is befitting 
that at this point I should say ■, your Re '-union. 
You feel, as I do not — as I cannot — the power 
of local influence in this gathering, but for 
which it would have no significance. Let the 
form of the statement then be changed. Your 
present Re-union rests upon local influences. 
As Christians, you were reared and nurtured 
under the guardianship of the same denom- 
ination and brought into the fellowship of the 
same Church. As ministers, you were for 
the most part educated at the same institution, 
and received your credentials from the same 
ecclesiastical body. And all these sources of 
fraternal affinities are traceable to the simple 
fact that you were born and brought up in the 
same section of country. You became Lu- 
therans because Lutheranism was here a pre- 
vailing embodiment of Christianity, and com- 
mended itself to your understandings and 
tastes as more attractive, more satisfactory, 
more desirable, than any other embodiment. 
You became members of this Church, because 



34 WORDS OF WELCOME. 

in this community there was no other church 
which equally commanded your respect and 
confidence. Your attention and your convic- 
tions of duty were directed to the sacred pro- 
fession, for the reason that here such facts were 
unfolded and such instructions were imparted 
as placed this high vocation prominently before 
you, drew out your desires respecting it, and 
satisfied you that God called you to it. For 
your education you bent your steps to the ven- 
erable old nursery of the denomination, be- 
cause all the religious influences by which all 
your views and habits had been moulded, 
turned your preferences towards it. And when 
you thought yourselves in some measure pre- 
pared to commence the great work of preach- 
ing Christ, and yielded your assent to the 
prevalent customs of the religious world, ask- 
ing ecclesiastical endorsement of that commis- 
sion which you claimed to have received from 
God, because within the area of country where 
all your religious endowments and tendencies 
had been developed and directed, there was no 
other body with which you were so fully satis- 
fied as challenging your attachments and afford- 
ing scope to your aspirations, you sought for 



WORDS OF WELCOME. 35 

licensure and ordination from the Franckean 
Evangelical Lutheran Synod. 

And now, permit me to request you for a 
moment', from the positions in life which you 
respectively occupy at the present time, to re- 
trace your footsteps backward along the sev- 
eral and more or less diverged lines of your 
personal and professional histories. Note care- 
fully, as you proceed in your retrospections, 
how, as the concentric circles of your activities 
become contracted, the controlling power of 
influence is increased, how increasingly promi- 
nent and potential the agencies become by 
which your plans and purposes were regulated 
as those agencies lessen in number; how indi- 
viduality almost sinks out of sight, and relative 
supervision approximates supremacy ; how 
much more nearly you approach each other 
as you near the polar points of your nativity, 
and how inevitably, presently, your condition 
and character become identified with your 
common birth place. Your early habits, your 
first religious impressions, your conversions, 
your vocations, your educational pursuits, your 
ecclesiastical preferences, might have been — 
must have been — very different had life began- 



36 WORDS OF WELCOME. 

with you elsewhere. But for the fact that it 
may be said of you, brethren, these men were 
born here, the world would never have known 
you as it knows you now. You are what you 
are because you began to live, move and have 
your being, in good old Sharon, Schoharie 
county, New York. 

Nor let it be thought that this is attaching 
too much importance to local influences. In- 
fluences are not less truthful and elevating 
because they are local. That physical causes 
have much to do with mental endowments and 
moral character, may not be questioned. And 
so, too, it is clear beyond dispute that some 
localities are more favorable to virtuous devel- 
opments than others are. Does any one ask 
upon what the discriminating power of local 
influences depends ? A frank confession of ig- 
norance is the best reply to this inquiry. And 
if the curious are not satisfied with this answer, 
we will respectfully request them to tell us 
what, without any qualification, that subtle 
something is which we call influence. The 
simple truth, and the whole truth, respecting 
this mysterious subject, is that we are cogni- 
zant of facts the reasons for which transcend' 



WORDS OF WELCOME. 37 

our comprehension. Why Lutheranism was 
introduced into this section of country at so 
early a date, and just when it was, is a ques- 
tion which, when pressed back beyond a given 
point, becomes unanswerable. But we accept 
the fact as we find it. Here, as elsewhere, pre- 
historic speculations have little practical value. 
The faith of the Reformation was planted in 
this productive soil before the now living 
Church and ministry had any existence. That 
it has been perpetuated and propagated, if 
there were no other proof, as there surely 
is, would be sufficiently demonstrated by the 
present Re-union. 

And now, having hastily alluded to those 
inscrutable agencies by which the past so im- 
pressively represents itself in the present, let 
us, from the standpoint we occupy, fix our at- 
tention a little more definitely upon some of 
the results which lie within the range of legiti- 
mate contemplation. 

We are here to recognize and to rejoice in 
the facts and the fruits of the Christian reli- 
gion, as they have been embodied and exempli- 
fied in this portion of the State of New York 
during the last half century; to express our 



3§ WORDS OF WELCOME. 

confidence in and our unfaltering attachment 
to that system of faith and practice which had 
its distinctive origin in the glorious Reformation 
of the sixteenth century, and which continues 
to bear the name of the illustrious man to whom, 
under God, more than to any other man since 
the apostolic era, the Christian world is in- 
debted for freedom of thought, for the rights 
of conscience, and for the unrestricted use of 
the Word of God as the only authoritative 
source of religious instruction ; to testify our 
appreciation of the worth and worthiness, the 
firmness and fidelity, of our Christian ancestry 
in establishing and perpetuating the Church of 
the Reformation, with all its essential concom- 
mitants, in the county of our birth and in the 
homes of our childhood. We are here to 
renew our covenant vows with and to the peo- 
ple of God at whose altars w T e first made a 
good profession before many witnesses— the 
people from whom and with whose blessings 
we went forth as ministers of the New Testa- 
ment, to proclaim to a sinful race the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ ; and we are here to re- 
affirm unswerving devotion to this church of 
our early choice, to each other as ministers sent 



WORDS OF WELCOME. 39 

out by it, and to that economy of grace, the 
only hope of a fallen world, of which it is the 
glory of the church to be in some humble sense 
an exponent. 

Leaving it for our brethren who are to be 
heard in reply to speak of Ties Unbroken and 
of Gracious Providences^ it onl yremains for me 
to welcome you, beloved brethren, as children 
of this church, back to the fold to which you 
were first admitted. And in attempting to dis- 
charge this most pleasant duty, I must confess 
that a shade of melancholy hangs over my 
mind which is not dispelled by all the delight- 
ful associations of the occasion. I am, indeed, 
painfully impressed that. this most befitting Re- 
union should have occurred at a much earlier 
date ; that these words of welcome should have 
been uttered by lips long since sealed with 
silence — by him out of whose ministrations 
and in answer to whose prayers you were put 
in positions to„represent, as you do to-day, the 
religious progress of this vicinity during the 
last half century; and that with you might 
have been gathered other dear brethren some 
of whom preceded and others followed after 
the long-loved and faithful shepherd to their 



40 WORDS OF WELCOME. 

rest and their reward. Reflecting upon the 
number of representatives of this church who, 
at any time during the later years of the 
revered Wieting's life, would have gladly re- 
sponded to his fatherly call, and shared with 
him the pleasures and profits of such a family 
gathering, one can hardly be reconciled to the 
fact that so befitting an occasion should have 
been omitted. But while we may regret the 
omission, we must honor the habits of life and 
the views of duty which led to it. Everything 
desirable cannot be crowded into the ministry 
of one man, however earnest, however pro- 
longed it may be. And while he did so much, 
and did it so well, which, in the judgment of 
all, should not have been neglected, we may 
with modified reluctance acquiesce in the defer- 
ence of privileges which might appropriately 
have received attention at least a score of years 
before. We will not, accordingly, indulge in 
vain regrets. The records of the past are 
crowded with omissions and mistakes. We re- 
view them with sadness, but we can neither undo 
them nor correct them. We all owe much to 
our esteemed brother, whose ceaseless toils 
extended over forty years in this same field, 



WORDS OF WELCOME. 4 1 

though they closed without affording such an 
occasion as we enjoy to day. He has gone, and 
others have gone. He is not here to give you 
his paternal greetings, and to extend to you 
the hospitalities of the church of which he had 
the oversight so long. The cheer, the smiles, 
the words of wisdom of other dear brethren, 
too, we miss. Such have been, such are the 
Divine overrulings. 

But, though ministers and members die, the 
ministry and the Church survive. There is, 
thank God, a succession, both ministerial and 
ecclesiastical, more Divine in its origin, more 
certain in its perpetuity, and more glorious in 
its functions than the assumed apostolical order 
upon which the groundless claim is rested that 
it is the only foundation of the true Church. 
Upon this succession this Church continues to 
exist, notwithstanding the changes which have 
taken place in the membership, and in the pas- 
toral relation, And, dear brethren in the min- 
istry, and brethren and sisters of other 
churches who are here to recognize your filial 
relations to the paternal fold, you have evi- 
dence which satisfies you that those relations 
are still cherished, though most of you have 



42 WORDS OF WELCOME. 

long been separated from the immediate fel- 
lowship of this Church. 

And, beloved, in her undying attachment 
to her children, your Mother has extended to 
you a cordial invitation to visit your early 
home; and you have greatly honored us and 
gladdened our hearts by accepting that invita- 
tion. And, as you appear in our midst, we 
meet you with a thousand welcomes. We 
welcome you to the places of your birth, the 
scenes of your childhood, the play-grounds of 
your youth. Here are the hills and the val- 
leys, the fields and some of the forests, from 
which you received your earliest impressions 
respecting nature and nature's God. Though 
they, like yourselves, have been greatly 
changed by the legitimate developments of 
time and the inevitable transformations of an 
advancing civilization, yet they, too, like your- 
selves, have retained their essential identity. 
Here are the same murmuring streams on 
whose crystal waters you were wont to gaze 
with childhood's wondering eyes; the same 
winding highways so frequently traversed on 
the endlessly diversified errands of youth and 
early manhood. Here are at least a few of 



WORDS OF WELCOME. 43 

the well-remembered dwellings, standing just 
where they used to stand, showing a little 
more distinctly, it may be, the marks of age ; 
while others, though they have been assailed by 
the irreverent spirit of what we call progres- 
sive improvement, yet subjecting them to the 
ordeal of scrutiny you will plainly see that 
antiquity has been imperfectly concealed by 
modern fashions. The old, familiar family 
names are still here — names which, notwith- 
standing all the enlargements of your associa- 
tions, you never have forgotten, never can for- 
get. Here are the graves of many of your 
youthful associates ; the graves of many of 
the companions of your riper years ; the 
graves of nearly all of the fathers and the 
mothers to whom you were accustomed to 
look for counsel, and by whom you first saw 
exemplified the spirit and power of that reli- 
gion upon the truthfulness and efficiency of 
which all our hopes for the future depend. 
We welcome you to these more than classic 
grounds — to these hallowed associations and 
memories of other days. We welcome you to 
this consecrated house of worship in which 
this church, your chnrc1i,W\e church of your 



44 WORDS OF WELCOME. 

early choice, are accustomed to meet and sit 
as in a heavenly place in Christ Jesus. It is 
not the same edifice in which you used to hear 
the Word of God, and in which you took the 
sacred vows of membership. But it represents 
the same glorious system of faith and worship 
to which you then committed yourselves. 

We welcome you to this altar, at which the 
company of believers here from time to time 
recognize and renew their allegiance to the 
Crucified, by the solemn observance of the 
holy Eucharist ; to this pulpit, which, so long 
as it faithfully and fearlessly proclaims the 
whole counsel of God, you will accept as a 
symbol of that method of religious instruction 
by which the Gospel is to be made known unto 
all the world and unto every creature. We 
welcome you to our dwellings, our family al- 
tars, our parlors, our tables, to participate with 
us in all the blessings, all the luxuries, all the 
sources of enjoyment, with which our bounti- 
ful Father above has favored us. Dear breth- 
ren, we welcome you home. Our home is 
yours. We receive you, not as prodigals 
driven back to us by destitution, but as faithful, 
honored sons, from earnest toil in the Master's 



UNBROKEN TIES. 45 

vineyard, to relax your hard-pressed energies, 
and rest a little, that you may go to your work 
again with renewed vigor. Claim your rights. 
Use your privileges. Feel no restraints but 
such as you see fit to impose upon yourselves. 
We confide in you, and we have no fears that 
you will abuse our confidence. Make this 
family gathering memorable; an occasion of 
blessedness in the largest sense; a means of 
lasting good, a preparation for and a foretaste 
of that great Re-union, about the certainty of 
which we entertain no doubt. This may be 
the last till then. When that occurs, if not 
before, we shall hope to meet you all again, 
together with those who are not with us now, 
but whose names and virtues are and ever will 
be embalmed, in grateful memories. 

UNBROKEN TIES. 

REV. M. W. EMPIE. 

Dear Pastor and Friends : It affords me 
much gratification and pleasure to hear these 
cordial words of welcome to the home of my 
childhood and of our fathers — especially the 
manner of them and their charming effects, 
reviving as they do the most precious mem- 



46 UNBROKEN TIES. 

ories of the " long ago " — memories which 
cluster around the departed and the living. I 
am particularly happy, under these circum- 
stances, to renew former acquaintances and 
past associations, and to find again the tender 
ties of social and Christian union, and the sym- 
pathies which may have been measurably hid- 
den by time, although never forgotten. 

Here many of us were born. Here I first 
saw the light of this world. Here our fathers 
and kindred according to the flesh have lived 
— here they died — here their ashes repose. 
Here their survivors, a later generation, live 
and act, and here they will fall ; aye, they are 
passing away one by one, and here their dust 
will mingle with those "gone before" until the 
resurrection. I feel in a manner strange among 
you, and somewhat sad, as I appear in your 
midst to-day. And why ? Because more 
than forty years have passed away since I 
moved and acted among you ; and that gene- 
ration has passed away, at least those older 
than myself, while those younger have passed 
out of my recognition. If I chance to meet 
any of my boyhood associates, they are as 
strange to me as any others whom I have 



UNBROKEN TIES. 4/ 

never seen before. I do not know my own kin- 
dred, except the older ones, and their number 
is very small. 

But the ties that bind me to Sharon and to 
the " loved ones " that I knewjn the past, and 
their descendants, are not broken — never can be. 
The mention of any familiar name, or incident, 
strikes at once a chord of sympathy in my soul, 
and causes deep and harmonious music within, 
satisfying, mysteriously, the hunger and thirst 
that kindred spirits feel. 

Here I was baptized by Rev. A. Crownse. 
Here I made a public profession of religion, 
and entered into church relation and fellow- 
ship ; and here my name is still recorded, and 
will continue to be — a relation and union that 
time or distance cannot sever. First Christian 
communions and church fellowships are dear 
to and ever present to my memory. I remem- 
ber well the old church on the hill, and the 
time and circumstances when I took upon me 
the vows of discipleship. Forty of us received 
at the same time the hand of welcome and fel- 
lowship through our worthy pastor, Rev. P. 
Wieting. Some of those remain to this day ; 
some have fallen asleep in Jesus ; some, I fear, 



48 UNBROKEN TIES. 

have made shipwreck of their faith and confi- 
dence. For those last we sadly grieve; but 
the faithful, living and dead, we fondly cherish 
in our thoughts and hearts ; and 

" Bless the tie that binds our souls in Christian love, 
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that 
above." 

Christian ties are perpetual. Nothing can dis- 
solve our union with Christ and his people — 
* * * "neither death nor life, * * * northings 
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor 
depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to 
separate us from the love of God, which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord." So then those who 
have lived and died in the Church, and those 
who are now alive in the body of Christ, are 
one and inseparable. 

" The saints on earth and those above but one com- 
munion make, 

One family we dwell in Him, one church above — be- 
neath, 

Though now divided by the stream — the narrow stream 
of death." 

A source of comfort to us in our conflict 
here is that the saints in heaven sympathize 
with us who remain. A great cloud of wit- 



UNBROKEN TIES. 49 

nesses, they cheer us in our race, and possibly 
minister to our success. Another is, we shall 
soon finish our work and join them in the city 
of God. (i We shall know each other there" 
and forever enjoy uninterrupted communion 
with all the blood-washed and sanctified. An- 
other is, that while we leave cherished associ- 
ates here in the church, co-workers and co- 
worshipers, behind, we shall gain a more 
numerous band of saints and acquaintances 
"over there" — to say nothing of the millions 
of all ages and nations, with whom we have 
had no acquaintance here, but whom we shall 
soon learn to know and love. We w r ho have 
lived an average generation and more, having 
known a larger number of those " passed over " 
than we know of remaining ones, shall not 
enter the "home of the saints" as strangers, 
but shall find ourselves among a host of famil- 
iar friends. We joyfully anticipate meeting 
at the very gate of heaven multitudes of our 
former kindred and friends, viz : our fathers, 
mothers, children, neighbors, pastors, teachers, 
and fellow pilgrims who before us died in the 
Lord. 

The ties that thus bind earth and heaven 
4 



50 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 

together are not involuntary or arbitrary, but 
of heavenly birth and holy sympathy — spiritual 
and eternal. 

" So star by star declines, till all have passed away ; 
So morning high and higher shines, to pure and per- 
fect day. 
Nor sink those stars in empty light, 
But hide themselves in heaven's own night." 

GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 

REV. J. A, ROSENBERG. 

Providence is that manifestation of -the care 
and supervision which God exercises over His 
creatures. It includes the direction of all the 
affairs of the world. It recognizes God as the 
source of all things, as holding the reins of 
universal government, and regulating all things 
to the promotion of His glory and the interest 
of His creation. 

This doctrine has been uniformly held by 
the Church. It has been well-nigh universally 
acknowledged by the world. Much of the 
'development attending the world's history has 
grown out of this acknowledgment. Practically 
the Deity may be eliminated from the affairs of 
men ; but theoretically there is little disposition 
to either question or ignore Him. 



GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 5 I 

Whence is this doctrine ? 

It rests upon the consciousness of the world. 

Whether we account for this consciousness 
or not, there can be no doubt respecting the 
fact. A controlling power is recognized — is 
felt — is acknowledged. It becomes the final 
rest of hope to the world. 

The various expressions of religious senti- 
ment, through all stages of human development, 
whether these expressions are right or wrong, 
sufficiently attest the position here assumed. 
It is hardly supposable that a principle that 
finds universal recognition can be altogether 
without foundation in fact. 

A universal providence is found in the very 
nature of things. 

He that could create the world, with its teem- 
ing millions, its vast variety of being — with the 
utter dependence involved — would not leave it 
to the contingencies of chance. What is of 
sufficient importance to call forth creative en- 
ergy, must command proper care and attention. 

God cannot be eliminated from the world. He 
fills the universe. He is the source of life. 
By Him all things exist. But this doctrine is 
most clearly and emphatically taught in the 



52 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 

Scriptures. Our progenitors in Eden " walked 
and talked with God," in the days of their 
purity. They were compelled to answer to 
His voice after their sin and fall, and to obey 
the authority that drove them from the garden. 
The cry of Abel's blood was not unheeded, 
nor was Cain able to hide his crime. Noah 
built his ark of safety by Divine direction, 
while the old world perished by the visitation 
of Divine power. Men planned by means of a 
tower to climb above any subsequent flood, 
but the confusion of tongues and the disper- 
sion of the people was the result. 

God would have a chosen people, and Israel 
came into being. Egypt could hold this peo- 
ple so long as they needed a nursery, and so 
long as their condition there was needed as a 
means of discipline ; but then Egypt could hold 
them no longer. The inhabitants of Canaan 
must yield their homes and their lives, because 
God gave the land to His own chosen people. 
And we will find the Divine hand equally ap- 
parent and effective in the whole history of the 
world. 

Thrones are established and nations are 
reared. When these have met, or have failed 



GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 53 

to meet, the object of the Divine purposes, they 
have fallen to ruin, and others have been es- 
tablished. Thus God has declared himself in 
the affairs of the world. "He that runneth 
may read." 

The same is true of communities, of families 
and of individuals. In the circumscribed and 
minute affairs of men, the providences of God 
are as signally displayed as on the larger field 
of nations and of the world. Noah and his 
family were saved because of the Divine direc- 
tion. Moses was the child of a special and 
gracious providence. The symbol of the Di- 
vine presence was with him in such a manner 
that all the people were made to understand 
that he was a child of providence. Even the 
proud and unwilling monarch of Egypt was 
forced to its acknowledgment. Saul, in his re- 
bellion against God, was constrained to say, 
" Who art thou, Lord ;" and quickly came the 
answer, " I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest." 

The language of Jesus was, " Not a sparrow 
falls to the ground without your Father." God 
cares for them. The gracious aspect appears 
in the fact that the same authority declares 
that care and interest increase as value in- 



54 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 

creases. Much more will He clothe and feed 
His people. " He numbers the very hairs of 
their heads." 

While these proofs might be indefinitely ex- 
tended, we may well assume that nothing more 
is needed. What follows then ? 

God's hand is to be recognized in bringing 
about those conditions out of which churches are 
developed. 

The Church is preeminently the creation of 
God. It requires little knowledge of human 
nature to see the impossibility of church exist- 
ence, without a superior and gracious mould- 
ing power. Men are called and qualified to the 
work of the ministry, but only as they are 
called of God. People are called from dark- 
ness to light. Moral conditions and desires 
are changed. Demand for the church is cre- 
ated. Organizations are effected. The com- 
bined forces of ministers and people are 
brought to the cultivation of the Master's vine- 
yard. By their work under the divine blessing 
"the wilderness is made to bloom as the rose." 
Thus Gocf s hand is ever seen and ever shaping 
the conditions out of which human good is se- 
cured. 



GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 55 

All is of grace. 

The benefits growing out of these providen- 
tial interpositions may be measurably recount- 
ed, but never fully comprehended. 

What an honor to be chosen of God as the 
recipient of His grace, care, mercy, and then the 
medium of His glorious designs to the world ! 
Yet all this is implied in the existence of the 
Church. The blessings which flow from this 
condition can never be estimated. The life and 
efficiency of the Church is one of the results. 

Without God's favor we are dead to all that 
can make for our good ; with it we are quali- 
fied to receive, to enjoy, and to utilize our be- 
ing with the high aims of the gospel. 

While these positions will be accepted as in 
the main correct, have they an application to 
the history of this locality ? Is it the result of 
chance that the gathering of to-day has become 
possible ? 

A pastor and people are brought together ; 
they enter upon their sacred work. The years 
come and go ; numbers are added to the church, 
and organizations are multiplied. Among these, 
numbers hear the Divine call to the work of 
the ministry ; they go from the mother church 



56 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 

to other fields of usefulness, and their work is 
crowned with no small degree of success. 
Some have been called from their labors just 
as they were entering the field, others after 
years of successful toil. Others of the num- 
ber are spared to the work of the Church. 
We are permitted to respond to the call of this 
Re-union, upon ground memorable from the 
associations of childhood, and rendered sacred 
as the birth-place of spiritual life and early reli- 
gious association. 

Do we recognize a gracious Providence here ; 
if so, what good end can it subserve ? 

There is a gratification in the social aspect 
that is afforded by the occasion, We meet 
again, after years of separation and toil ; we 
take counsel together. We look on the scenes 
of youth, recall the conditions that served to 
blend our lives with the interest of the Church 
of our fathers ; wherein we find not only our 
work, but our higest enjoyment. These things 
are a source of no small gratification. He who 
said: " Rejoice evermore," can bring about 
those conditions in which rejoicing is possible. 

There may be a gracious providence in this 
reminder of those that are absent. How con- 



GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 57 

spicuous in his absence the respected and 
lamented Pastor who, during a period of forty 
years, ministered in holy things in this com- 
munity. To most of us he was a spiritual 
father. We not only cherish his memory and 
emulate his virtues and efficiency, but are re- 
minded of the lapse of time. The end is by 
and by. But younger men are absent. Some 
of them were our seniors in years and in the 
ministry. Some were juniors in both, yet their 
work is ended. We shall see their faces no 
more. 

We look into the pews. They are filled as 
in years gone by. In this fact there is an ele- 
ment of joyous gratification. The years roll 
on. Changes occur, but God and his church 
remain. Yet we ask, Where are those so 
familiar in the days of our youth? Here and 
there Ave see a well-known form, yet how 
changed ! The countenance is furrowed by 
the plowshare of time ; the once raven locks 
are adorned by the frosts of winter. The eye 
may remain undimmed, the vigor of a youthful 
manhood survive, capacities that are not sec- 
ond to those of other years exist, but we can- 
not overlook the fact that time is passing — 



58 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 

" The night cometh." Said one who was 
among the first to go from this church as a 
minister of the Gospel, and who labored zeal- 
ously and often with great success : " Could I 
live my life over, I would be much more zeal- 
ous than I have been.' 7 

We may need just this gathering at this 
juncture of time, with the lessons involved, to 
prompt us to proper activity. " Walk in the 
light while ye have the light." 

By this gathering the church is reminded of 
a portion of her history, her origin, her trials, 
labors and triumphs, her ingathering and ex- 
tended influence for good, reaching to other 
portions of the church, resulting in God's 
glory and the salvation of many. Has she 
not existed by the gracious providence of 
God ? It seems to us, her distinctive charac- 
ter and mission have been the results of a 
Divine and gracious guidance. 

The time was when her position was distinc- 
tive. Hers was a new departure — a moral rev- 
olutionary condition. In this condition she 
was not only an object of wonder, but, to put 
it mildly, of opposition and persecution. But 
let us not dwell on this aspect of her history, 



GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 59 

though it might afford matter for volumes. 
God was in her history. Faith and devotion 
to principle have secured success, as they ever 
will secure it. 

The Church still lives. She will continue as 
long as Christ is made her Head, and His glory 
the guiding-star of her pilgrimage. The fathers 
are not. They who stood in the battle front, 
with few exceptions, have passed away. Others 
have succeeded to their places and their work. 
So we move. The work continues, but the 
workmen fall. 

In recounting these facts, we may hear the 
Divine admonition, " Be ye also ready.'' A 
little longer, and we of to-day will give place 
to others. 

Some of us have gone forth from these altars 
seeking broader fields of usefulness. We were 
brought into her folds by the truth fostered by 
the mother Church. At her altars our young 
lives were consecrated to the service of God. 
Some have labored long and faithfully. They 
have borne the " burden and heat of the day.'' 
The sun is far down in the western horizon. 
Soon it will be night, and there will be rest. 

Others there are of less years, who, in the 



60 GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 

vigor of their manhood, are effectively wield- 
ing the sword of the Spirit. Others still are 
coming for the labor of the harvest fields. 

The number of those who have gone from 
this church, as ministers of the wprd, has been 
a matter of wonder. And the power that has 
been developed has not been overlooked. The 
spirit here imbibed has been carried elsewhere. 
We believed, and therefore have we spoken. 
God has owned and honored, and now permits 
us the pleasure of this re-union. But pleasure 
is not all. There is a broader design. We 
shall do well to fathom those designs and make 
haste in their accomplishment. 

If some have departed, we thank God that 
others remain. Respecting some we can say, 
they have been familiar from childhood. Their 
counsels have been earnestly sought and care- 
fully. heeded ; and their counsels are still de- 
sired and respected. Their preaching has not 
only interested, but often thrilled the writer. 
As a result, high aspiration has been enkindled. 
To say so much will be allowed, though in the 
presence of those to whom reference is made. 
We thank God that they live and are still doing 
valiant service for the Master. We greet them 



GRACIOUS PROVIDENCES. 6 1 

as fathers of the Church. We rejoice in that 
gracious Providence that has perpetuated their 
lives and their usefulness. 

But others have fallen. Some almost in 
youth, just as they became well equipped for 
the battle. Some suddenly, in the prime of 
manhood, when they seemed to us a necessity. 
Others have fallen in riper years, well nigh 
"like a shock of corn fully ripe." But here, 
as elsewhere, we recognize a gracious hand. 
Theirs is the eternal gain. 

Time will not permit us to dwell on those 
providences that are of a. personal character. 
A little reflection will recall their multiplied 
numbers, as well as their gracious character. 

From God we can have nothing but gracious 
providences. These are easily seen in those 
things we account mercies. They are not less 
gracious in the clouds — the storm. These 
may be equally expressive of the Divine good- 
ness. To God be all glory — to us faith, hope, 
patience, final perseverance. 

STATEMENTS. 
After the usual devotional exercises during 
the Saturday evening session, an excellent pre- 



62 POEM. 

paratory sermon was preached by Rev. W. H. 
Shelland. Text, Heb. xii. 22-24; topic, Chris- 
tians Company. 

The balance of the time was occupied with 
the poem and reminiscences. 

POEM. 

BY REV. A. L. BRIDGMAN. 

Now may my numbers, soft and clear, 

Fall gently on each opening ear ; 

May light Divine descend and shine 

On this poetic soul of mine. 

The wintry storms are now all past, 

The angel Spring has come at last ; 

The Artist's pencil, though unseen, 

Begins to paint the fields in green. 

Earth's landscapes now with beauty shine, 

And Nature looks almost Divine. 

Since God is dressing up the spring, 

And birds in every forest sing ; 

Since Nature smiles, and groves are fair, 

And Sol's mild lustre warms the air, 

Shall those not have a pleasant time 

Who listen to my strains sublime ? 

May their communion here be sweet, 

And kindred souls each other greet. 

May it be such as angels feel, 

And duly stamped with Heaven's own seal ! 

There is a union here of hearts ; 



POEM. 63 

And you have come from different parts 

Your various histories to relate — 

To give your past and present state. 

Your minds are in a proper mood 

To give us only what is good. 

We shall expect the finest wheat 

Made into bread for us to eat ! 

And that there be no signs of destitution, 

A spacious field is under contribution. 

The mouths of our souls will be open wide 

To receive the nourishment you may provide ! 

O give us not a meagre meal, 

Since our stomachs are large, and will hold a good 

deal! 
And the poet will bid all those God speed 
Who will satisfy our mental need ! 
Some will give fish and others fowl, 
And I trust no one will have cause to growl. 
Some will supply nectar, and others wine — 
The unfer merited juice of the vine ! 
The essays that will here be read 
Will furnish food for heart and head ; 
The preachers will show their radiant faces, 
And their hearts will glow with all the graces. 
They will lead us into pastures green, 
And they will not leave our spirits lean ; 
And if tears run not down our cheeks in a flood, 
The preacher's appeals may stir our blood. 
And may their words so eloquently flow 
That all may feel a heavenly joy below ! 
Some will go back to their former days, 
And tell us of their youthful ways. 



64 POEM. 

They will paint for us the shining rills 

That wound like silver ribbons from the hills ; 

Tell us of the forest's grateful shade ; 

How merry sunbeams on the waters played ; 

With rapture allude to the golden hours 

They spent among the brooks and flowers. 

Many things they will joyfully tell 

On which their memory delights to dwell. 

They will speak of scenes of joy and mirth, 

When they could hardly keep their hold on earth ! 

Tell how their* faculties unfolded, 

And by what means their characters were moulded. 

Tell how the hill of science they ascended ; 

On what conditions their success depended. 

Of Hartwick's classic halls they'll speak, 

Where they learned the Latin and the Greek. 

They'll speak of an inward, mysterious power, 

Which often lasted-'to the midnight hour. 

They will show us how the truly wise 

Will give their faculties good exercise. 

Can we win harvests from the soil 

Unless there be exhausting toil ? 

Perhaps some one of them may slyly tell 

(And all could do the thing right well) 

How Cupid sent a dart 

Not into the head, but heart. 

For this we know is a tender part ! 

Ran not the tide of rapture high ? 

Can any miss the reason why ? 

And when that bright angel drew nigh, 

And all the time that she was by, 

No common glory kindled in the eye ! 



POEM. 65 

To give our verse variety and grace, 
Some graver thoughts will now demand a place. 
Some will refer to the happy hours 

When first heaven's path they trod, 
And gave with an undying trust 

Their being up to God : 
When no more they put the que stion, 

Who will show us any good ? 
For the joys of God's salvation 

Overwhelmed them like a flood. 
All parts of God's creation 

Then wore a different face, 
For then their inward being 

Was touched with heavenly grace. 
The beaming of the countenance, 

The flashing of the eye, 
Told plainly to all Christians 

That heaven was very nigh ! 
That holy book, the Bible, 

Was then no longer sealed, 
For its beauty and attractions . 

Stood gloriously revealed. 
Martial and sentimental songs 

Were then no longer heard, 
For the song of Christ's redemption 

Was the one their bosoms stirred. 
They called on all who dwell below, 

And all who dwell above, 
To sing the joys and wonders 

Of Christ's redeeming love. 
5 



66 POEM. 

Some will tell us of their call 

God's holy word to preach, 
And something of the spirit 

In which they sought to teach ; 
O, what were fame and gold to them, 

When the impulse stirred within, 
And they longed to see the sinner saved 

From the guilt and power of sin ? 
We will hear from some of the progress made, 
Since deep foundations were at Hartwick laid. 
They'll tell us something of the rounds they've run, 
And sketch a little of the work they've done ; 
For this we think no person will dispute, 
That in due time good trees will bear good fruit. 
Some will describe the state of things some fifty 

years ago, 
When the tide of vital piety was running rather low. 
For all preachers then were not in haste 
To reclaim and till the dreary waste ; 
But the Father sent his servants forth, 

And soon with sweet surprise 
They saw the precious seed spring up, 

And lovely verdure rise. 
The altars then were thronged 

With the old and with the young, 
And the song of God's salvation 

With holy joy was sung. 
And multitudes of precious souls 

From time to time were born ; 
And many of that number now 

The heavenly courts adorn ! 



POEM. 6/ 

Some will talk about the field in 188 1, 
And the part which is assigned them will doubt- 
less be well done ; 
For they will have a conscience 
That things be rightly told ; 
They will not make the age all iron, 
Nor altogether gold. 
Some will dwell upon the future — 
A many-sided theme — 
And the way it will be treated 
Will prove no idle dream ! 
'Tis not at all presumptious 
To approach this theme anew ; 
And our faith in those who treat it 
Will be generous and true. 
Their thoughts will be intelligent, 
And robed in neat attire ; 
Their minds will move with freedom, 
And their hearts will glow with fire. 
These men are on the mountain-top, 
Surrounded by the light ; 
May they pity those who are below, 
Who dwell in shades of night! 
Do they see the future, fraught 
With all good and lovely things ? 
That we may soar to those bright heights 
May they lend their radiant wings ! 
When that glorious time comes 
We will sound the loud trumpets 
And beat the big drums ! % 

The landscape shall smile 
In liveliest sheen, 



68 POEM. 

And the fields shall be clothed 

In a far brighter green. 

Then poets and birds will more sweetly sing, 

And continue longer on the wing. 

Then the preacher will not stretch 

Beyond his measure ; 

And the people will not stare 

At his stolen treasure. 

Then he will not flaunt 

In borrowed plumes ! 

Then he will cease to glory 

In tobacco fumes !' 

Some will speak of the departed, 

Whose forms we'll see no more 

Until we are admittted 

To that bright and peaceful shore. 

The mists of earth to them are rolled away, 

And now their spirits revel 

In everlasting day. 

They blend their notes 

In that grand celestial chorus 

Of the mighty army 

Who have gone before us ! 

They dwell in a land where no discord jars ; 

Where their heads are crowned with, immortal 

stars. 
If w r ith faith and courage 
W 7 e tread the path they trod ; 
On Heaven's golden hills with them 
We'll enjoy the smiles of God. 
Some are present here to-day 
Whose toils are nearly o'er ; 



SABBATH SERVICES. 69 

Who can almost hear the waters beat 

Upon the golden shore ! 

They soon will tread the flowery plains 

That never knew the night ; 

And Heaven will break upon them 

In a flood of golden light. 

SABBATH SERVICES. 

Six out of the seven churches were occupied 
by the members of the Fraternity during the 
morning hour. All were present at the 3 
o'clock p. m. service, and listened to the essay 
for the hour, and to some miscellaneous re- 
marks by different members. 

In the evening the house was crowded. 
Rev. N. Van Alstine delivered the communion 
discourse — a plain, practical sermon — text, 
Rom. vi. 23 ; topic, "God's Great Gift to Man." 
The communion was very large and deeply 
impressive. 

THE FIELD IN 1831. 

REV. M. W. EMPIE. 

A. D. 1831, a half century ago! — well, I 
was here then, a lad of seven years. Why I 
should have been chosen to present to this 
meeting the history and scenes of that remote 



70 in 1831. 

but interesting period, I cannot divine. I have 
a very faint recollection of that time and its 
events, and shall have to draw largely upon 
tradition for what I may say. 

Sharon is my native town (Sharon and 
Seward were then one). Here I received all 
my early training, social and religious, which 
in some respects was ample and satisfactory, 
although in others unfortunate. I was well 
trained at home, brought up to industry and 
virtue, and a regular attendant at church. But 
in those days we had no Sabbath-schools, no 
books or periodicals specially adapted to chil- 
dren, except the catechism and a few story 
primers. 

This Lutheran field embraced the two 
churches of Sharon and New Rhinebeck, in 
each of which services were held on alternate 
Sabbaths, while on afternoons and evenings 
services were held in many school-houses and 
private dwellings. Many preaching services 
(and well attended) were also held on week 
days. The Sharon church was located on the 
hill one-half mile north of here. The one at 
New Rhinebeck was built in 1798, and is still 
standing, a relic of the past. 



IN 183I. 71 

Qut of these churches or congregations grew 
the following, viz: Sharon, Gardnersville, Law- 
yersville, Pleasant Valley, Leesville, Argusville, 
Little York, and Sharon, Wis., in all eight, ag- 
gregating over 1,000 members, with present 
materials for more than twice as many more. 

But to return, the religious opportunities of 
fifty years ago were in keeping with the gen- 
eral intelligence, and the natural advantages 
and improvements of the period. Those were 
developed in limited degree. I may here re- 
mark, that nearly all the improvements and 
inventions which so signally favor our genera- 
tion, have been introduced within the last half 
century, i. e. y labor-saving machinery, rapid 
transit, instant communication, etc. I may 
name implements of husbandry, inventions to 
facilitate domestic labors, . methods of travel 
and of transmitting knowledge, the art of pro- 
ducing sun-pictures ; and we might add a 
thousand triumphs of art and science, relating 
to war, commerce, business, education, pleas- 
ure, etc., which now are in general use, and are 
familiar to every school boy, of which the 
fathers of even less than fifty years ago were 
entirely ignorant. 



J2 IN 183I. 

The religious advantages of those days were 
few and simple. The children were baptized, 
and. brought to church (a commendable prac- 
tice, which, I am sorry to say, has fallen into 
disuse), and most of them were instructed out 
of the catechism and Testament, and taught to 
say prayer^. I will, however, not assume to 
speak of the general practice among the church 
members of that period. I will speak for my- 
self and for my home. From my first recol- 
lection, prayer was wont to be made in my 
father's house. Family worship was maintained 
morning and evening. It consisted of prayers 
at evening, Scripture reading, singing and 
prayer in the morning, and every member of 
the family was required to be present. Further- 
more, family discipline was maintained accord- 
ing to the gospel, for which I am very grateful 
to this day. My first and only reading books 
for a long while were the New Testament, the 
Catechism, the " Lutheran Hymn Book," pub- 
lished in 1828 ; " Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress," 
and the " Wonders of Nature and Providence." 

The following incidents are among my first 
recollections of church-going. I sat with my 
good mother (the sexes occupying different 



in 1831. 73 

sides of the house) ; I wore a stove-pipe white 
beaver, with a silver cord and tassel arranged 
in some way on the side of it, which I thought 
was very nice and becoming. Another was a 
mystery, connected with the a Dominie" who 
occupied the goblet-shaped pulpit, over which 
hung the famed sounding-board, which I was 
fearing might some time fall on his head. 
When the preacher sat in the pulpit he was 
out of sight ; when he arose to perform any 
part of his service, his head to me was just 
visible ; and not noticing when he sat down, I 
wondered what had become of him, and noti- 
cing the hearers on the side galleries, which 
were not far from the pulpit, I concluded he 
must have jumped from his coop among them. 
Another thing which attracted my attention, 
was the way church collections were lifted. 
On either side of the pulpit there was hung on 
a nail a long pole with a black bag on the end, 
in the bottom of which there was suspended a 
small bell. These the deacons took down and 
passed around from seat to seat among the 
hearers. The bell served to arouse the sleep- 
ers, and to notify all to be in readiness with 
their contributions, so that there might be no 



74 in 1 83 1. 

delay when the bag* passed before them. By 
the way, I think the method was a convenient 
one, and not improved upon to this day. 

An excellent feature of those days was the 
way children were trained — not only in indus- 
try, but modest behavior. They were taught 
to respect and honor their parents and superi- 
ors, and to be polite to strangers. They were 
required to maintain good behavior in the 
home, on the street, in church and in school, 
and other public places , attainments in which 
Young America of to day is lamentably defi- 
cient. Another peculiarity of those days was 
the spontaneous respect generally shown by 
the old and young to the ministers of the gos- 
pel, even by those who were non-professors, 
and the skeptical and wicked ; also the general 
submission of the members of the church to 
the requirements or rulings of their official 
boards, a thing nearly obsolete in our advanced 
period. 

About fifty years ago, the great religious 
revivals commenced, which, for ten years or 
more, swept with such marvelous saving power 
all over these parts, through which the churches 
were largely re-enforced by praying members. 



in 1831. 75 

I remember as a lad some of these scenes and 
incidents. Distinctly do I recollect some of 
those who were the laborers in and first fruits 
of those revivals. Pastor Wieting, who com- 
menced his ministry here in 1828, sowed 
faithfully the good seed of the kingdom, and 
laid down broad and firm the foundations of 
the gospel upon which to rear a spiritual super- 
structure of living stone. In about 1830 the 
harvest began to ripen, and the sheaves began 
to be gathered. The following were some of 
the fathers who co-operated in the work, and 
the families who were gathered about that time, 
viz,, the Angels, Borsts, Collins, Dunckels, 
Empies, Fratts, Frances, Haines, Hillers, 
Houcks, Hallenbecks, Klings, Kniskerns, 
Loucks, Marckleys, Moellers, Myers, Meren- 
esses, Ottmans, Rosenbergs, Sternbergs, 
Shanks, Stalls,, Schutts, Sommers, Strails, 
Van Alstines, Weavers, Wises, Youngs. 
There were others, of course, whom I do not 
call to mind ; these, their descendants, and 
others, gathered in during that first decade, 
were the perpetuators and supporters of these 
churches — the names and numbers gradu- 
ally increasing, notwithstanding the waste by* 



76 in 1831. 

deaths, removals, and, alas ! defections. I think 
it due to those early converts, as a class, how- 
ever, to say that they were in a remarkable 
degree zealous and faithful. Their conversions 
were pronounced, and of all of them, male and 
female, it could be said: "Behold, they pray!' 
As opportunity offered they filled their places 
at public worship, at the preparatory and com- 
munion service, the prayer-meeting, etc. They 
also seemed to be largely in sympathy, mutu- 
ally, and esteemed each other very highly for 
Christ's sake. 

About a half century ago, a great moral 
revolution began in our country, which affected 
the Lutheran Church, and which reached this 
community. I refer to the "Temperance" and 
"Anti-Slavery" reforms, and the introduction of 
so-called "new measures" and of "missionary 
enterprises!' I speak of these as a "revolution" 
because of the strife they inaugurated, and the 
opposition they encountered (excepting per- 
haps the last named), and the alienations and 
divisions they occasioned. Positions pro and 
con were taken, and maintained with possibly 
a good deal of intemperate and unchristian 
'zeal on both sides. But there was a provi- 



in 1831. 77 

dence in the conflict, and the war was waged 
to a final victory for truth and right, so that 
now these moral and religious questions, so 
far as Christians are concerned, are settled be- 
yond controversy. 

The cause of "Missions" domestic and for- 
eign, begun as a mustard-seed plant, has been 
steadily growing and developing, until to-day 
we can gratefully exclaim, " Verily, what hath 
God wrought /" And yet we are but in the 
dawn of this necessary and inevitable Gospel 
enterprise. Christians are just waking up to 
their duty in this direction, and to what its 
blessings and possibilities are. 

To return to this field, I am not able to say 
how many members, during this half century, 
have been received into these churches — how 
many have died — how many have been dis- 
missed by letter — how many have been excom- 
municated, or how many are now in "good and 
regular standing!' But there is one fact of pe- 
culiar interest ; that during those years, there 
have gone out from these two churches form- 
ing this pastoral district fifty years ago, some 
twenty ministers of the gospel — pastors who 
have been more or less successful in the Mas- 



78 in 1831. 

ter's vineyard. Of this number, two went 
astray, six have died, the remainder are still 
preaching the Word in different localities, with 
commendable success. 

In the Lutheran Church in the United 
States, there have been great changes and im- 
provements in these years, since 1831. To 
say nothing of the controversies, divisions, 
and alienations that have obtained, I rejoice 
to be able to say from a " little one" we have 
become the third in numbers, and a power in 
the land. At that time (1831), in round num- 
bers, there were 10 synods, 200 ministers, 400 
congregations, and less than 40,000 communi- 
cants. Now there are 57 synods, 3,225 minis- 
ters, 5,700 churches, and 715,000 communi- 
cants ! 

At that time the Lexington, S. C, College 
was just established. Pennsylvania College 
was organized the next year (1832). We had 
but two theological seminaries, Hartwick and 
Gettysburg. The Lutheran Observer made its 
first appearance in August, 1831. Now we 
have sixteen colleges, eighteen theological sem- 
inaries, and some eighty periodicals, printed 
in six different languages. 



in 1831. 79 

Fifty years ago, there were but few English 
churches, and in those few the German lan- 
guage was more or less used. Indeeed, it was 
thought by many that the German language 
was indispensable to Lutheranism. The 
prejudices of our fathers against the English 
tongue, and their opposition to American ideas 
and feelings, greatly hindered the develop- 
ment of our Church, and was the means of 
driving multitudes of our children into other 
communions. To this day other churches 
thrive upon Lutheran material. 

Until about fifty years ago, the advantages 
for English theological training w T ere very 
meagre. True, PJartwick Seminary was estab- 
lished in 1 8 16, and was doing a noble work; 
but until 1826 there was no English text-book 
on systematic divinity. That year Dr. S. S. 
Schmucker issued his translation of " Storr 
and Flatt." Fifty years ago, the form of wor- 
ship in our Lutheran churches was very sim- 
ple, consisting of singing, scripture-reading, 
prayer, preaching, prayer, singing, benediction. 
" No liturgical services, no confession of sins, 
no recitation of creeds, no responses." Dr. 
Morris says, "A few of our old German minis- 



80 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 

ters had a brief altar service, consisting of in- 
vocation and scripture lesson." He also says 
that fifty years ago, " neither the Augsburg 
Confession, nor any other creed, was regarded 
as obligatory upon ministers, although they 
were Evangelical and sturdy Lutherans in 
name." He also says that at that time Drs. 
Enders, Lochman, Hazelius, Miller, Bachman, 
Kurtz, and others, expressed views on the na- 
ture of the Lord's supper not in harmony with 
the symbols, or according to standard Lutheran 
divines." 

But I must not further trespass on the time 
or patience of this meeting. I will only add 
that while we may thank God and take cour- 
age, there is much room for advancement and 
improvement ; and may the God of all grace 
give us new courage and zeal for our mission, 
and crown with greater blessing our work in 
the Lord. 

MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 

REV. L. STERNBERG, D. D. 

If, as is often said and commonly believed, 
"the boy is the father of the man," youth is 
not only the most important period of life, but 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. Ol 

the most profitable for record and review. 
Impressed by this thought, in compliance with 
the request to furnish something for the vol- 
ume that it is proposed to publish as a sort of 
resume of the convention held in the Gardners- 
ville church, in Seward, Schoharie county, 
N. Y., on the 14th- 17th of May last, I propose 
to relate in this article some of the incidents 
of my youthful days. I imagine that such a 
record, though it contain nothing striking or 
unusual, may interest some who participated in 
the convention, since I was born and reared 
only about two miles from where the conven- 
tion was held. 

I was born February 16th, 18x4, being the 
youngest of eleven children. My father was a 
man of remarkable intellectual powers, of 
sound judgment, a good farmer, and of great 
mechanical skill. He was a self-made man, 
having gone to school but eight days in his 
life, his school having been broken up by the 
Revolutionary war at the beginning of his 
school days. Such was the desolation wrought 
in the Schoharie valley by the war, that when 
at its close the schools were re-opened, none 
could be spared to attend them who were old 



82 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 

enough to work. To this latter class my father 
belonged, as he was now seventeen years of 
age. 

Of my mother I know not how to speak in 
fitting terms. In motherly attributes, many 
may have been her equals, but her superiors 
none. Eternity alone can reveal what I owe 
to her affectionate care, her pious example, 
her godly counsel, and her persevering prayers. 

Though my parents, John and Anna Stern- 
berg, have now for more than a generation 
rested side by side in the tomb, there must 
still be many in Schoharie county from whose 
minds their memory has not passed away. 
Such need no reminder of their virtues. 

When I was born my mother at once dedi- 
cated me to God to serve him in the ministry ; 
and as the Levites served about the temple, 
she wished me to be named Levi. Some ob- 
jection was made because this name was not 
found among our kindred ; but she insisted, 
and this name was given me in baptism. 

At seven I commenced going to school. 
While I was fond of books, I was still more 
fond of play. In those days school govern- 
ment was mainly by the rod. I shared in this 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 83 

discipline, though not as frequently as many 
others. One day I was punished twice, and 
once at least unjustly. I complained to my 
father. Said he, " The next time your teacher 
punishes you, tell me, and I will punish you 
too." I never complained to him again. At 
one time the boys were seized with the military 
ardor which most children experience. We 
formed ourselves into a regular company. I 
was elected captain. At recess we trained, 
marching with drum and fife, and with sticks, 
fowling-pieces, and pistols for arms. One of 
these pistols was loaded, and in inspecting 
arms I discharged it, and almost shot a boy. 
This ended our training at school. 

There was considerable rivalry as to who 
should be at the head in the spelling-class. 
The contest was mainly between Gideon Empie 
and myself, but he was rather too much for me. 

We had during my school days a succession 
of superior teachers ; I doubt whether any 
other district in the county was in this respect 
so highly favored as ours. The brothers, 
James, Abraham, and Isaac Mereness, succes- 
sively taught our school for a number of years, 
and did their work well. Besides the ordinary 



84 MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 

English branches, I studied in that school 
Latin and French. One of the happiest mo- 
ments of my life was when my father came 
home from Albany, and brought me a Mur- 
ray's English and an Adams' Latin grammar. 

My mother did not neglect to impress upon 
my mind the fact that I was dedicated to God 
in the work of the ministry. This impression 
was deepened by the venerable Dr. E. L. 
Hazelius. He frequently visited at my father's, 
and would take me between his knees and tell 
me I must come to Hartwick when I should 
be old enough, and study for the ministry. On 
one of these occasions he taught me how to 
set down the answer to an example in addition 
without performing the operation, only writing 
several more rows of figures after the answer 
had been given, and I never forgot it. 

At twelve I left the district school, and 
studied for two years with the Rev. A. Crownse, 
who was then our pastor. I was also a member 
of his class of catechumens, and committed 
Luther's smaller catechism. 

I went to 'Hartwick as a student in the spring 
of 1828. Though I then knew nothing of ex- 
perimental religion, yet I was seriously inclined, 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 85 

and fully intended to study for the ministry. 
I am sorry to say that under the influence of 
thoughtless companions my serious impres- 
sions were gradually dissipated, and I gave up 
all idea of studying for the ministry, and re- 
solved to study law. This was exceedingly 
distasteful to my parents. My mother's faith 
did not fail, nor did she relax in faithful admo- 
nition and prayer. During this time Dr. Haze- 
lius left Hartwick, swid Dr. Miller became Prin- 
cipal. His preaching was instructive, but not 
calculated to arrest the attention of the thought- 
less. It, however, awakened serious thought 
in my mind. I was gradually led to see my 
need of a Saviour, to pray for forgiveness and 
divine assistance. My room-mate at that time, 
at Clark Davison's, was M. J. Stover. He was 
of great assistance to me in the commence- 
ment of my religious life. I shortly after this 
made a public profession of religion, being con- 
firmed in the Sharon church by the Rev. P. 
Wieting. There were some fifteen or twenty 
persons confirmed at the same time. Among 
them the only one I remember was then Hen- 
rietta Miller, but now Mrs. S. Beekman. I 
called on her when I was East in 1879, and in 



MY YOUTHFUL DAYS. 

ieing her was forcibly struck by the changes 
time has wrought. The saddest change was 
the fact that she seemed to have been weaned 
away from the house of God. It was not long 
after this that the first "four days' meeting" 
was held in the Sharon church. At these 
meetings nearly the whole Synod came togeth- 
er, and for four days the time was spent in 
religious services. That meeting was one of 
wonderful power. I threw* myself into it with 
my whole soul. I labored with my young 
companions, particularly Augustus Miller. 
When he found peace in believing, I introduced 
him to his father as one adopted into the family 
of God. The Doctor embraced him with tears, 
and thanked me for what I had done for him, 
saying that he found it easier to talk to any 
one on the subject of religion than to his own 
children. I have since been privileged to lead 
many a soul to Christ, but the sweetness of 
that first conquest for the Saviour has never 
been exceeded. 

When I had given my heart to the Saviour, 
I had no further hesitation about consecrating 
myself to his service in the ministry. To this 
end in future my studies were directed. My 



RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 87 

father died before they were completed, but 
my mother lived to hear me preach as an or- 
dained minister of the Gospel. 

Now, after a ministry of nearly half a cen- 
tury, I thank God that my life was so early 
directed into this path of usefulness. Its 
rewards are incomparably greater than can be 
reaped from the largest worldly success. 
Though many have been blessed with more 
abundant fruits of their labors than I have, yet 
in every harvest-field where I have labored I 
have been enabled to gather some precious 
sheaves for the Master, as well as in my many 
years of teaching to aid in preparing other la- 
borers who are now reaping in the fields 
" white unto the harvest," or have been called 

to their reward. 

r 
RELICS OF THE REFORMATION IN 
WITTENBERG. 

REV. D. VAN ALSTINE, D. D. 

On the tenth day of December next, it will 
be three hundred and sixty-one years since 
Martin Luther burned the papal bull excom- 
municating him from the Roman Catholic 
Church. Early in the morning of that day, 



OO RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 

the professors and students of the University, 
and many of the citizens of Wittenberg, came 
together near the Elster gate, just outside of 
the city walls. A fire was soon kindled and 
blazing. The bravest man in all Europe — then 
thirty-seven years old — approached the flames 
and flung into them several obnoxious docu- 
ments ; and then, holding aloft in his hand the 
bull of excommunication of Pope Leo X., he 
shouted in stentorian voice: "Since thou hast 
afflicted the Lord's Holy One, may fire unquench- 
able afflict and consume thee ; " and he cast it 
into the flames. He returned to the % Univer- 
sity amid the applause of professors and stu- 
dents and citizens. It was one of the most 
daring acts of the sixteenth century. He 
trampled contemptuously on the supreme 
papal authority of all Europe. 

On the seventh day of last September, I 
stood in the shade of the oak-tree which now 
marks and commemorates the spot where 
Luther performed this brave act. As I stood 
there and called around me the scene of the 
past, a new inspiration and firmer resolve came 
over me to repudiate what is false, and to 
stand loyal to God's truth everywhere. 



RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 89 

WITTENBERG. 

The city is in the province of Saxony, on 
the crocked river Elbe, midway between Ber- 
lin on the north, and Leipsic on the south. 
It is an old walled town, with ancient streets 
and buildings, a garrison for soldiers, and a 
present population of about 12,500. It is not 
inviting in its general appearance, but it 
abounds with relics and memorials of past cen- 
turies. It was the cradle of the German Re- 
formation of the sixteenth century. It was 
the home of Luther and Melanchthon for 
many years, and their work was largely accom- 
plished here. These two men were quite un- 
like, and in some respects the contrast was 
very striking. And still they were well 
matched, and needful to the work they had in 
hand. Luther was the more fearless, daring, 
and stormy man — the man to handle the 
sledge-hammer in smiting the hoary wrongs 
under the protection of civil and ecclesiastical 
authority ; Melanchthon was the more sedate, 
serenely meditative, and scholarly man — he 
was the better systematic theologian. I took 
some pains, while in Wittenberg, to see and 
examine some of the relics that still remain of 



90 RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 

these distinguished and godly men. I will 
give a brief but necessarily imperfect record of 
some of the things which specially interested 
me. 

luther's home. 

The University of Wittenberg was founded 
by the distinguished Elector of Saxony, Fred- 
erick the Wise, in 1502. He called Luther, 
then a monk at Erfurt, to the professorship of 
scholastic philosophy in the University in 1508. 
He at once became popular as a lecturer in the 
old scholastic philosophy, and especially so in 
his fresh and luminous lectures on the Holy 
Scriptures. The Bible in his hands became 
a new book to the people. While thus teach- 
ing and preaching, the Reformation began to 
dawn, and to break in like the coming of a 
new day. New conceptions and forms of 
thought began to break away from the old 
creed and customs of the Roman church ; and 
the uproar and tumult soon came in. 

The home of Luther, where he taught and 
lived many years, is a massive stone structure 
in the Kellegian Strasse. There are in the 
building several rooms closely associated with 
his life and work. In one of them is his writing 



RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 9 1 

table, gradually decaying, the top of which 
slides from a deep drawer below, in which he 
was wont to deposit his manuscripts and writ- 
ing materials. His old double-seated chair, in 
which he and his wife Catherine often sat in 
the evening twilight for social chats, and which 
contains a eulogy on Luther's domestic affec- 
tions, still remains. There is a curious parlor 
stove, having five stories, and about six feet 
high, constructed after his own design, and 
with the side-panels of each story decorated 
with representative figures in relief. Four of 
these figures represent the Evangelists, Mat- 
thew, Mark, Luke and John, and quite a num- 
ber represent the arts and sciences, as mathe- 
matics, geometry, painting and music. Its fire 
has long since gone out; but it remains still a 
unique piece of mechanism. There is also a 
bust which is said to have been taken imme- 
diately after he died, and which probably gives 
a very correct outline of his face and head. 
The craggy brow, and the stern, sincere, and 
earnest expression of the face, seem character- 
istic of the man. In an adjoining room is a 
painting of the Council at Worms in 1 521, in 
a frame of beech-wood from a tree memorable 



92 RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 

in his history. In a side-case are various trink- 
ets once belonging to him. I noticed his beer- 
cup — Germans, even then as nozv, drank beer — 
and a glass goblet, which was broken by Peter 
the Great, the Czar of Russia, when on a visit 
to the city in 171 2. He wanted the goblet to 
take with him as a memento, and when, it was 
refused, he showed his indignation by striking 
it a blow with his cane. The broken pieces still 
lie there, and the broken goblet not only speaks 
of the great Luther, but also of the childish 
passion of Peter the Great. The large room in 
which Luther gave class instruction to the 
students, and where he also frequently lectured 
and preached, has an air of special interest 
about it. It seems well adapted to the purpo- 
ses for which it was used. There is a low plat- 
form on which he usually stood, and in its rear 
and a few steps higher is the long and narrow 
pulpit. Let any one thoughtfully stand there 
on the platform and in the pulpit where the 
heroic Luther so often stood, and where he 
poured the light and truth of heaven into the 
minds of hundreds of young men who came to 
the University from all parts of Germany, and 
he will have impressions and reflections aroused 



RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 93 

not easily to be spoken of. In this room is a 
likeness of Luther, painted by Lucas Cranach 
while the Reformer was still living, and I was 
told that it was regarded as the most correct 
and best likeness in existence. It is very 
striking and impressive. The courageous soul 
is there, and looks straight at you. There is 
thunder in the face and brow, with soft and 
mild sunshine beyond it all. 

MELANCHTHON'S HOME. 

On the same street, and not far off, was the 
home of Melanchthon. The change of his Ger- 
man name, Schwarzerd, to the corresponding 
Greek, Melanchthon, illustrates a custom some- 
what common among literary men of that age. 
Erasmus, changed from the German, Gerard, to 
the Greek, Erasmus, is another instance of the 
same sort. The house in which Melanchthon 
studied and lived is a solid, but not an elegant 
stone structure. The outside door is large 
and heavy, and is divided horizontally after the 
old German style. A large square room in 
the second story served him as a study, sitting 
room, and sleeping apartment, and in which he 
died April 19th, 1560. There was a strange 



94 RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 

influence in the room to me. From it his 
soul went to heaven. The only thing remain- 
ing of special interest is a very large oaken 
chest, once richly decorated with carving, and 
having a huge and curious lock. Inside are 
divisions and cells, once rilled with valuable 
papers and manuscripts. In the rear of the 
house is a garden enclosed with a high brick 
wall, and contains a well and several trees and 
some shrubbery. In this garden is a round 
stone table, still in good condition, at which 
Luther and Melanchthon frequently partook 
of luncheon together, and passed hours in 
private conversation. A private gateway and 
passage through the wall of the garden — now 
closed up — led to Luther's home, not far off. 
As I sat at this stone table, under the shade of 
the trees, and with such surroundings about 
me, it was not difficult to transport myself 
back into the past, and to imagine these Re- 
formers there, talking over the interests of the 
great cause they both had at heart. How un- 
like, physically and mentally, these men ; and 
yet how well adapted each was to the special 
work which God gave him! 



RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. g$ 

THE SCHLOSSKIRCHE. 

This is the Castle church ; and is the church 
in which the Elector of Saxony, when in Wj£- 
tenberg, was wont to worship. On the even- 
ing of October 31st, 15 17, Luther affixed to 
the doors of this church his ninety-five theses 
against papal indulgences. It was on the day 
when the city was unusually crowded with 
people, to be present at the feast of All Saints ; 
and the excitement and commotion became 
exceedingly intense. The wooden doors to 
which the theses were affixed were burned dur- 
ing the bombardment of the city in 1760; but 
they have been replaced by bronze doors, on 
which are engraved the ninety-five original 
theses in Latin. Over these doors is a scene of 
Christ on the cross ; and Luther is seen kneel- 
ing on the right, and Melanchthon on the left 
of it. In this church Luther very often 
preached, and many of his most stirring and 
effective sermons. Both these eminent men 
were buried here. The guide will raise for 
you a trap door; and you see an inscription 
on a bronze plate, indicating where the mortal 
remains of these men were deposited. You 
are standing on the confines of mortal life, and 
look into the great beyond ! 



96 RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 

The Stadtkirche is in another part of the ^ 
city, and in it Luther frequently preached ; 
and it has various memorials of the Reforma- 
tion. There are a number of paintings by 
Cranach ; one a scene of the communion in 
1522, when for the first time the bread and 
wine were distributed to the laity; and another 
a baptismal scene, in which the infant is im- 
mersed ; and portraits of some of the renowned 
Reformers. There stands a bronze font, cast by 
Hermann Visher, of Nuremberg, in 1457, on 
which are figures in relief of the Apostles ; 
and among them is Peter with a large key in 
one hand. The wonder to me was why the 
Reformers did not remove this Catholic em- 
blem. 

In the old Rathhaus, or as we should call it 
Town Hall, are many relics of the past, and 
several that relate to Luther and his day. I 
felt a special interest in his hour-glass. It is 
still in perfect condition, and as capable of 
measuring the hours of the day as when it was 
turned by his hand three hundred and fifty 
years ago. His brave heart then beat the 
hours of the day for a limited number of years, 
and then came to its final pause forevermore ; 



RELICS OF THE REFORMATION. 97 

but his hour-glass is ready still to do its office. 
I saw its grains of sand noiselessly trickling 
from the upper to the lower chamber. 

THE MONUMENTS. 

In the Market-place, a large public square 
in front of the old Rathhaus, are the bronze stat- 
ues of Luther and Melanchthon, under Gothic 
canopies. Both are well executed, and charac- 
teristic of the men. 

Luther is represented in the attitude ot 
speaking to the people. He holds in his hand 
an open Bible, while he utters the words, 
"Glanbet an des Evangelium ; " and thus urges 
them to believe in the gospel. On the one 
side of his monument are engraven the words : 

11 Eiri feste Burg 
1st unser Gott" 

words taken from an immortal hymn that he 
composed. On the other side are the words 
so expressive of his faith : "Isfs Gottes Werk so 
zvirds bestehn ; isfs Mencken Werk wirds un- 
tergehn" 

Melanchthon's statue does not indicate the 
preacher, but the scholar. It has a severe, 
composed, meditative expression in all its parts. 
7 



98 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 

It has an appropriate reference to Psalm cxix. 
46: "I will speak of thy testimonies also before 
kings, and will not be ashamed. " Another to 
Eph. iv. 3. 

These men accomplished their work and de- 
parted ; and now, after more than three centu- 
ries, the moral atmosphere of Germany is still 
fragrant with the influence of their names. 
Being dead, they yet speak. Catholicism still 
lingers in Wittenberg. Its priests still walk 
its streets, but in an atmosphere uncongenial 
to them. Catholicism is like a perishing tree, 
that has been smitten and splintered by the 
lightning of heaven. 

Benefited by what I had seen and felt, I left 
Wittenberg for Berlin, the capital of the Ger- 
man Empire. 

Hornellsville, N. K, Aug., 1881. 

THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 

PASTOR. 

Given, the unity of the Godhead, and the 
unity of the human race : does harmony, uni- 
versal and uninterrupted, follow as a conse- 
quence ? How can it be otherwise? Is God 
the author of discord ? With the same origin, 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 99 

the same nature, the same necessities, the same 
liabilities, the same destiny, the same source 
of supplies ; with so many mutual depend- 
encies, so many strong affinities, can man be- 
come inimical to his fellow man ? Alas for 
logic when confronted by facts ! Milton's as- 
tounding utterance is not more poetic than 
truthful: 

11 Devils with devils damned firm concord hold, 
Men only disagree." 

Alienation from God, mutual antagonism as ■ 
between men, individually and associationally, 
what words better express the moral condition 
of the race? 

For the solution of this strange problem, we 
must consult, not philosophy, but Revelation. 
The disturbing element is sin ; and the Bible 
furnishes the only explanation of its introduc- 
tion. And the Bible teaches us that man 
was created in the image of God; that he 
fell by disobedience; that enmity against his. 
Maker and against his fellow man was engen- 
dered in his depravity. It is the fruit of sin, 
if not sin itself. And if history proves but 
one thing, that one thing is the fact that the 
endless and the endlessly diversified conten- 



I GO THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 

tions of human beings are never to be har- 
monized by any of the modifications of natural 
affection; by the corrective influences of public 
sentiment; by the elevating tendencies of edu- 
cation; nor yet by any concentration of the cir- 
cumstantial forces which may be brought to 
bear against them. They have continued 
through every age, defied every type of civili- 
zation, and have never been more numerous, 
relentless, and incorrigible, than as occasioned 
. and sustained by what the world has consented 
to call religion. 

After interminable wars and bloodshed be- 
tween nations, and the fiercest persecutions and 
most implacable enmities among religious sects, 
the children of peace, as the last source of 
hope, have turned their longing eyes towards 
the Christian system, and they seem to rest in 
a common conviction that if the elements of 
harmony are not found here, the reign of dis- 
cord must be eternal. Law, though invested 
with divine authority, as a controlling power, 
has been universally found to be a failure. It 
can only have supremacy among holy beings. 
Man is fallen and depraved. But we are not 
now under law, but under grace. This new or- 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. IOl 

der of things is not intended to supplant the 
old, but to supplement it. " What the law could 
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, " 
is proposed to be accomplished by the trans- 
forming and sustaining agency of the Holy 
Spirit, with whose advent the Christian dispen- 
sation commenced. It remains, therefore, to 
be seen whether this peculiar and parentheti- 
cal economy does or is designed to establish 
the reign of peace on earth. 

The prophetic designation of the Great 
Founder as the Prince of Peace ; the heavenly 
chorus with which his advent was heralded, 
" On earth peace" — the memorable prayer for 
believers, in which Christ seems to contemplate 
the grand result of his mission, " that they 
may all be one" — and many other items of like 
import, are certainly very suggestive of the 
pacific designs, measures, and contemplated 
achievements of the Gospel of Christ. Nor is 
the hope thus inspired in the least discouraged 
by apostolic instructions. How directly and 
severely envying and strife and divisions are 
rebuked ! "Are ye not carnal ? " How clearly 
and how emphatically believers are required to 
" be perfectly joined together in the same mind 



102 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 

and in the same judgment." And surely, these 
sweet notes, in such perfect accord with all our 
conceptions of what should be, and with our 
most confident expectations of what is to be, 
are not intended to misdirect our aspirations 
and eventuate in final disappointment. 

But let us bear in mind that our blindness 
and our blunders are not chargeable upon the 
Divine unfoldings. If futile hopes are founded 
upon false interpretations of the word of God, 
and traditional- superstitions are sought to be 
supported by fragmentary passages, let us hold 
ourselves responsible for all consequent confu- 
sion and contradictions. Harmonizing theories 
and movements, contemplating the control of 
mere externalities, have made little impression 
upon the discordant condition of a fallen race. 
They never will, they never can, for the reason 
that they leave the causes and the only effective 
remedies out of the account. Such movements 
are like attempts to regulate machinery by 
means which do not reach the motive power. 

Somewhere, sooner or later, we shall surely 
encounter and accept the great fundamental 
truth that peace is the fruit of conquest, not ot 
conciliation. Truth and error, right and wrong, 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. IO3 

are essentially and eternally in antagonism. 
In their nature and in their tendencies they are 
directly and designedly at variance. There 
should not be, there cannot be, either compro- 
mise or armistice between them. Effect, pro- 
pose even, a conservative reconciliation between 
truth and error, you make truth itself erratic 
in the concession, and invest error with a 
power which does not belong to it. And every 
offer to suspend hostilities gives error advan- 
tages which of itself it can never secure. Truth 
contemplates, not subjugation, but transforma- 
tion; not the acknowledgment of its supremacy, 
but the extermination of everything at variance 
with itself. Hence the conflict that has existed 
so long and raged so fiercely, is to be continued 
without cessation, until " all things are put 
under the feet" of Him who only is the mani- 
fest embodiment of truth. 

" Think not," said Jesus, at the very com- 
mencement of His ministry, as if He would at 
once and forever dissipate the fatal delusion, so 
prevalent then, and so prevalent still, that, re- 
gardless of character, the gospel was intended 
to bring the human family into a state of har- 
mony — u think not that I came to send peace 



104 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 

upon the earth ; I came not to send peace, but 
a sword." And how fully His ministry exem- 
plified that astounding statement! His pre- 
cursor, though only acting in the twilight of 
the coming dawn, was beheaded. Family dis- 
tractions resulted from the Master's own 
preaching. The social, political, and religious 
departments were not only excited, but em- 
broiled by it. The terrible war of words, 
thoughts and feelings, producing a perfect 
tumult wherever He went, became deeper, 
more general, and more determined, until He 
became the object of its concentrated force, 
and His crucifixion attested the insatiable ma- 
lignity of the spirit by which it was controlled. 
And what followed ? Accepted history claims 
that eleven of the twelve apostles met death by 
violence. Persecutions, increased in number, 
in extent, in severity, and kept pace with the 
spread of Christianity during several of the 
first centuries. And it may as well be said at 
once, and in a single word, that the history of 
the Church, from the apostolic era to the pres- 
ent day, is but a record of endlessly diversified 
forms of the same great contest, and no inter- 
posing power has been effective in its repression. 



> THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. IO5 

Now let attention be directed to another 
point of scarcely less imposing interest. It is 
often said that man is a religious being. But 
this is only a part of the truth, and a very in- 
definite statement at that. Many a senseless 
theory has been built upon it. There is a class 
of half truths which are the most mischievous 
of errors, and this is one of that class. It is a 
limitation of the Divine claims. It places a 
part of man's being beyond God's jurisdiction. 
Everything is religious which is answerable to 
the will of God, and may redound to his glory. 
The idea is not that man has so many and such 
religious elements as to render him capable of 
becoming religious, This seems to be all that 
is implied by the trite expression under review. 
The real truth is that human nature is essenti- 
ally religious in all its facts and phases, in all 
its powers and susceptibilities. Religion is the 
fundamental idea of humanity. And it is not 
the less religious because it is depraved. Par- 
adoxical as the statement may seem, it is never- 
theless the fact, that religion is the centre and 
circumference of all the incongruities, contradic- 
tions and absurdities of which the mind of man 
is capable. What is depravity, what is sin, 



106 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. r 

what are antagonisms in the moral world, but 
disturbances of the elemental harmony of our 
nature? Its forces are thrown out of their 
proper bearings not only, but in opposition to 
each other. All of the passions, and most of 
the emotions are disloyal to conscience, and 
reason is led captive by the imagination. 
Hence the irregularities, the alternations, the 
extremities, the fanaticisms, the errors, in a 
word, the conflicts, which make up human 
character and human history. " The flesh 
lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against 
the flesh, and these are contrary one to the 
other." The conflict is unceasing and irre- 
pressible. It is often modified, but never wholly 
suspended by the conditions of life. It dis- 
turbs individuality, it distracts the social rela- 
tions. It is the Babel by which the language 
of the race is confounded. Business is a 
system of mutual distrust and of alternate 
supremacy of labor and capital. Political econ- 
omy as practically exemplified, is a game of 
chance which parties, hopelessly corrupt, play 
with the masses, the secret of the game being 
misrepresentation and money. And religion — 
what is it, what can it be, but a ceaseless strug- 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. \OJ 

gle with these opposing elements? Only by 
the most persistent self-defense does the church 
maintain its organic existence. And so far as 
its offensive movements are concerned, every 
step of progress is taken in the face of formid- 
able opposition. 

This is the only explanation we can have of 
the discords and distractions which make up 
so large a proportion of the history of our race. 
All have their origin in the conflict between 
truth and error, between right and wrong. 
And what is error, but truth distorted, misap- 
plied, rejected ? And what is wrong but right 
held too rigidly, compromised, turned out of 
its course ! 

Why pursue this line of thought further? 
We see already why it is and how it is that reli- 
gion in all its aspects is a ceaseless succession of 
struggles. In the present state of things it can 
never be anything else. It is indeed the mys- 
tery of mysteries. And yet it is the only ex- 
planation of the existing economy, so far as it 
can be explained. That the purest faith and 
the rankest infidelity; the most unsullied virtue 
and the most loathsome vice ; the holiest sym- 
pathies and the most hardened prejudices ; the 



108 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 

bleeding heart of mercy and the bloody front 
of tyranny ; the persuasive influences of kind- 
ness and the relentless freaks of persecution, in 
all conceivible modifications are in constant 
conflict is simply a fact of observation and ex- 
perience. In yielding to the noble aspirations 
of a Paul, one is sure to encounter the sordid 
lusts of Simon Magus. The simple, trustful, 
unpretentious and yet wonderfully effective en- 
deavors of Moody, are confronted by the 
sparkling but silly, sometimes dignified, oftener 
disgusting, frequently attractive, but always 
abortive utterances of Ingersoll. And these, 
with countless numbers more, are only diver- 
gent lines of life and influence, all having their 
origin in the great central struggle, to a greater 
or less extent modified and directed by man's 
own volition. Why the change from the old 
to the new dispensation and what the character 
of the transition, but a conflict between the 
distinguishing pecularities of each ? The old 
system, as first instituted, was singularly simple 
and beautifully adapted to the condition of the 
people at that time. But it became corrupted 
and disfigured by countless interpolations and 
traditions until it became more human than 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. IO9 

Divine, more erratic than truthful, more de- 
grading than elevating. Revision, reformation, 
transformation, or the utter abandonment of the 
race, was the only alternative. The new sys- 
tem was not intended to supplant what was 
truthful and suitable in the old, but to remove 
the effete accumulations of ages, to relieve the 
friends of virtue and godliness of the cumber- 
some burdens and distasteful improprieties 
which, during the lapse of those ages, had been 
made as concessions to the hard and depraved 
heart of the race. And how protracted and 
fierce the war between Judaism and Christi- 
anity ! 

Shall we pause to ask about the origin and 
character of that glorious event, which, byway 
of eminence, is called the Reformation, and 
of which, after all, Lutheranism is but a syno- 
nym ? Why was that Reformation necessary ? 
How was it brought about ? What have been 
its consequences? Was there ever a more 
tumultuous commotion of the moral elements? 
Was there ever a revolution more character- 
istically religious ? Did ever a contest occur 
in which everything desirable depended more 
clearly, so far as human effort was concerned, 



IIO THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 

upon unfaltering firmness, unyielding persever- 
ance, in which everything would more certainly 
have been sacrificed and lost by compromise 
and conciliation ? Who has pondered the nu- 
merous expedients resorted to to quiet the bel- 
ligerent forces, without feeling that, firm as 
were the distinguished men who stood in the 
van of the battle, the concessions they made 
were their greatest mistakes! The inevitable 
tendencies of the religious masses to accept all 
sorts of errors which palliate and justify prev- 
alent vices ; the singular tenacity with which 
certain clases cling to popular usages, however 
corrupt ; the obstinate determination with 
which such usages are defended against all at- 
tempts at innovation, and the remarkable sensi- 
tiveness with which all controversy relating to 
them is regarded, were never more strikingly 
exemplified than during the progress of this 
great, this glorious revolution. And, of course, 
the directly opposite tendencies and peculiari- 
ties were equally apparent. Had abuses been 
left unexposed and truth left untold, all would 
have been quiet and remained as it was. Had 
the corruptions of the Church of Rome not 
been assailed with as much or more spirit and 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. I I I 

decision than they were maintained and vindi- 
cated with, the cause of Protestantism would 
soon have been overwhelmed. 

And now, if after taking this brief, discon- 
nected, and very imperfect view of what in the 
nature of things must be, and what from the 
dawn of Christianity — and long before — has 
been, we turn our attention to the conflicts of 
our own times, they need neither surprise nor 
annoy us. We cannot but see that in accord- 
ance with the logic of events, they have been 
unavoidable. Movements so limited in extent 
and so comparatively inconsiderable in their 
importance as have been our synodical contro- 
versies, are by no means exceptions to the gen- 
eral law. They came, because in the inevitable 
order of things, they were not to be avoided ; 
and it was best they should come. True 
enough, many undesirable things came with 
them. But do we not yet know that evils, 
many and serious, are inseparably associated 
with reforms and progress at all times and 
under all circumstances ! These evils are the 
abuses of a good thing, and are not to be 
named as arguments against it. Do not even 
ask who is to blame, or most to blame for them. 



112 THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT. 

The greatest evils are the abuses of the great- 
est good. Hence, in the judgment of the 
superficial observer, those are most censurable, 
who really are most to be commended. The 
most stupendous wrongs occur where there are 
the most momentous interests at stake. The 
conflict of thought and feeling may be as hon- 
est as it is inevitable. And there is no wrong 
in this. The evils of controversy arise from 
partisan blindness and a disregard to truth and 
right. Selfish excitement causes misapprehen- 
sion and misrepresentation, and parties become 
more anxious to clear themselves and criminate 
others, than to arrive at and abide by truth and 
right. And so in the synodical troubles 
through which we have passed, criminations 
and recriminations did occur to a most deplor- 
able extent, and with the most deplorable con- 
sequences. Would it had been otherwise. 
But in our regrets for whatever was wrong, 
shall we overlook or fail to appreciate whatever 
has been right and good ? Can we wish the 
condition of the religious community back to 
where it was half a century ago ? Nor is it at 
all probable that a like transformation could 
now occur with less incidental damage to the 



THE IRREPRESSIBLE CONELICT. I I 3 

cause of Christ. We may and we should sor- 
row over the imperfections and weaknesses of 
our common humanity, as brought to view in 
those dissensions, and elsewhere. But we 
shall certainly exemplify them not less sorrow- 
fully if we fail to learn the lessons of wisdom 
and to improve the signal advantages which, 
consequent upon those dissensions, have been 
brought within our reach. 

Our present Re-union and its antecedents have 
been the outcome of that irrepressible conflict 
in which the Franckean Evangelical Lutheran 
Synod had its origin, and of the continuance 
and expansion of which it became the occasion. 
Without wishing to imply the slightest re- 
proach upon those with whom we were in- 
volved in this conflict, but simply insisting that 
it belongs to that order of things which contem- 
plates peace as the final fruit of conquest, it 
seems befitting that we should be reminded, as 
a part of these exercises, that so far as we 
have been loyal to our convictions and faithful 
to the word of God as the only rule of faith 
and practice, we have been acting in the line 
of the Divine purposes, and we are not to an- 
ticipate that the war between right and wrong, 



114 HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 

truth and error will cease, until the kingdoms 
of this world become the kingdom of our Lord 
and of His Christ. 

Of the healthful fruits of the particular con- 
test to which allusion has been made, we are 
to hear from others. 

HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 

REV. J. A. ROSENBERG. 
" First pure, then peaceable." 

Purity, is the basis of peace. It is the essen- 
tial condition. Purity must be secured, at 
whatever cost, before peace can be enjoyed, 
either morally or politically. The opposite 
condition may be likened to volcanic forces. 
They may slumber for a time but they are 
only latent. 

They will develop, and convulsions, fearful 
upheavals and ruin, will be the result. Peace 
follows only when these forces become ex- 
hausted. 

The elements of antagonism to a healthful 
condition involve a like state of things. A 
maimed limb cannot perform its functions. Its 
restoration may involve an operation, causing 
both cost and pain. 



HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. I I 5 

So, to secure peace in the heart, in the Church 
and in the community, antagonizing forces 
must be met, if they are to be subdued. This 
may, and usually does, involve more or less 
conflict. Often, there is a long and bitter war, 
terminating when one or the other is destroyed. 

In the present state of things in the world, 
is this wrong? Let the Master answer. " / 
came not to send peace on earth , but a szvord!' 
There must be war against all wrong, against 
all moral deadness and lifeless formality. 

This principle is abundantly established by 
the testimony of history. The world has ever 
been a battle ground — a scene of struggle and 
conflict. Its history affords a record of little 
else. Right has usually been compelled to 
struggle for existence; and, to obtain the mas- 
tery, it has been needful to battle long and 
hard. 

When God would have a people, qualified to 
become the depositories of divine revelation, 
and proper possessors of " a land flowing with 
milk and honey," they must first become pre- 
pared through trial. The possession was pre- 
ceded by Egyptian bondage — the sufferings of 
the wilderness — and the stern realities of war. 



Il6 HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 

They must conquer a name and a place in 
order to rear their long-hoped-for nationality. 

Christ came as the world's Redeemer, but 
Christ was crucified. Paul went on his mission 
of mercy, but it was amid hardships and death. 
The Reformer of the sixteenth century was no 
exception. What bitter trials, terrible conflicts 
and herculean labors became necessary, that 
the errors of Rome might be exposed — that 
the world might have an open Bible, and that 
there might be an emancipated church. 

The trials and battles of Israel culminated 
in the possession of Canaan, the grand kingdom 
of David, the magnificent reign of Solomon, with 
w r ealth, power, culture and the beautiful and 
wonderful temple. They secured the presence 
and guidance of God. Their subsequent won- 
derful history still affords streams of blessings 
to the world. Europe has her high civiliza- 
tion — England her Magna Charta — America 
her political liberty — all through the same in- 
strumentality. 

Surely, it may be said u war is not an 
unmixed evil." It is terrible in its immediate 
operations. The occasion for it is ever to be 
deprecated. But it is often the only resort, if 
there is to be relief from that which is worse. 



HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. llj 

As another illustration of this principle, we 
name the present advanced status of the Lu- 
theran Church. A great change has been ef- 
fected during the past half century. This is 
true of her numerical strength, doctrinal po- 
sition, effective operations, and pietistic tenden- 
cies. Numerically, her strides have been 
rapid. Her doctrinal position is so well defined 
that there is no occasion for controversy. It is 
true her venerable Confession stands intact. 
But, with the authorized addendum of 1864 
there is no ground for misapprehension. 
There is room for improvement, it is true, in 
much of the spirit that prevails within her bor- 
ders. It is not to be supposed that the oak 
will mature in a day. Progress demands time. 
It cannot be doubted that the spirit that now 
largely prevails, the modes and extent of the 
operation that obtain, the degree of effective 
piety developed, and the means applied for the 
extension of the Redeemer's kingdom, are far 
in advance of the state of things fifty years ago. 
Tlure is progress. There is a growing ten- 
dency towards a greater harmony with the 
spirit of truth and the Reformation, rather 
than with the mere letter. 



I I 8 HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 

In this locality, the state of the Church and 
the standards of religion that obtained are 
matters both of memory and of history. On 
this territory, the pivotal point of which we 
now occupy, were two small churches, with a 
combined membership ofabout seventy. These 
constituted the pastorate, and formed the 
centre of the forces put into operation. Of the 
moral aspect of the field we do not especially 
speak. That it was not of a high order, there 
is no room for doubt. From the numbers 
identified with these churches, the tone of 
training they had received, and the general as- 
pect of morals throughout the community, the 
outlook could not have been very hopeful. But 
movements were inaugurated and forces 
brought to bear that cannot here claim our at- 
tention. Whether these movements were wise 
— called for and justified by the existing state 
of things, the sequel cannot leave in doubt. A 
tree must be judged by its fruit. The results 
of any given effort will show 7 the measure of 
wisdom involved. As might have been ex- 
pected, contentions and some bitter alienations 
were among the first tendencies developed. 
This, though involving no gain to either party, 



HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. II9 

was but a natural result. Reforms involve op- 
position, and are often attended with bitter 
controversies and life-long animosities. 

But let not the fact be overlooked that this 
state of things may come from minds equally- 
honest. All may not be chargeable with dis- 
honesty or be regarded as inspired by evil, 
though they may oppose what we approve. 
There are different degrees of light, of capac- 
ity, different standards of action. There may 
be an honest zeal, though not according to 
knowledge. But can any healthful conditions 
grow out of these things? The answer must 
be in the affirmative. This is but to accept the 
common teachings of the Word's history. 

The controversies of the sixteenth century 
were long and bitter, but they culminated in 
the grand Confession of Augsburg, and made 
the wonderful achievements of modern Protes- 
tantism possible. The errors and corruptions 
of Rome were laid bare. The thunderbolts of 
truth caused the papal heiararchy to totter to 
its fall, and lifted the merciless foot of oppres- 
sion from the subject nations of the world. 

We boast of the advanced condition of the 
present age, of modern liberty, of wonderful 



120 HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 

achievements, and point to results with pride 
and gratification. But these are the out-growth 
of the Reformation age. 

The same may be said of the political field. 
King George lost his colonies — America 
gained her independence and a grand nation- 
ality — by means of like agencies. And this too 
may be said of the agitations that culminated 
in that condition wherein the flag is no longer 
"a flaunting lie." The American soil is free. 

Controversies, in themselves, are unpleasant, 
and are to be deprecated ; but like the storm, 
the ebb and flow of the sea, while some dam- 
age may be effected, a higher degree of purity 
is the result. 

Among the benefits flowing from the agita- 
tion here, we name a better and higher ideal of 
genuine Christianity. This may be said of the 
sense of moral obligation developed; whatever 
the practice, the understading now is clear. 

A mere connection with the church does not 
save. This is needful, but much more is need- 
ful. It will no longer do to be equally at home 
in the church, at the sacramental feasts, and 
then in the associations and practices of vice. 
These things are not now tolerated. Character 



HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. * 121 

is weighed by something like the true standard ; 
and not many mistakes are made in the judg- 
ment formed. A standard of morals may be 
wrong; the out-growth, like the stream, can 
rise no higher than the fountain. 

We do not contend that the ideal of Chris- 
tianity is now what it ought to be. There is 
still room for great improvement; but here 
there is progress towards the right. May the 
good work go on till the church shall become 
" a city on a hill." Again the laity were 
brought to the cultivation of personal piety, the 
employment of their talents, and their co-oper- 
ation in aid of each other and the work of the 
ministry. ( 

There were family devotions, meetings for 
prayer and mutual aid, and personal work in 
the public assembly — thus co-operation with the 
pastor in the promotion of good. As a result, 
personal piety was largely cultivated, and en- 
couragements were afforded that enabled many 
to endure "as good soldiers." A growing de- 
votion to the church was apparent. Evil was 
restrained; the forces of moral power were 
largely augmented. 

We cannot here note the aspirations that 



122 . HEALTHFUL TENDENCIES. 

were enkindled, the talents that were called. 
into activity, and the lives that were conse- 
crated on God's altar. Nor need I speak of 
the number and intellectual status of those 
who were here so touched with the fires of the 
altar, that they felt constrained to consecrate 
their lives to the sowing of the precious seed 
in other fields. The number, that have gone 
from this church as heralds of the cross, has 
been a matter of wonder and of comment. 
The extent and character of the work they 
have done and are doing, cannot be estimated. 
Suffice it to say, churches have been multiplied 
and maintained. The same spirit has been 
elsewhere inculcated. Other ecclesiastical or- 
ganizations have felt its power, and its leaven 
has been largely diffused. With gratitude to 
God, we may with joy commemorate the 
achievements of grace. 

Let us sacredly cherish the memory of the 
noble fathers, who dared to follow and main- 
tain the right. Let their virtues and courage 
find active imitator^ in those that survive them. 
To us has descended a noble heritage; the 
same spirit and fearless courage have yet a 
wide field for operation. 



ULTIMATE RESULTS. I 23 

In conclusion, we express the hope that this 
church, which has been so signally favored in 
the past — constituting a centre from which so 
much good has emanated — may not only main- 
tain her high position, but become more effi- 
cient in the highest style of life and work, that 
which Christ demands. 

ULTIMATE RESULTS. 

REV. W. H. SHELLAND. 
(Delivered extemporaneously, and written from 
memory.) 

The ultimate results are divine, both in their 
appointment and nature ; hence the irrepres- 
sible conflict is inevitable. The Divine order 
of things is " First pure, then peaceable." But 
the whole human family is defiled with sin. 
Moral derangement and pollution reign every- 
where. " The whole creation groaneth and 
travaileth in pain until now," seeking for de- 
liverance from its bondage and reaching toward 
the Ultimate Results, Hence the revolutions 
and convulsions that shake the nations, over- 
turn kingdoms, sweep away empires, make ty- 
rants tremble and crowned heads quake with 
fear. The means used are not always the best; 



124 ULTIMATE RESULTS. 

but, under the Divine direction, are aids in the 
conflict ; for He who controls all things after 
the counsels of His own will, makes the wrath 
of man to praise him, and the remainder He 
restrains. We rejoice therefore in those health- 
ful tendencies brought to view by the last 
speaker. 

Experience and Scriptures assure us that the 
desired results can only be attained by conflict. 
Compromise is defeat. This is an error fre- 
quently committed by the Church. Conform- 
ity to the world is fatal to her interests. If 
she makes peace the ultimate object, her pur- 
ity is sacrificed. If there be life, there must 
be conflict till the object is realized, for right- 
eousness hath no fellowship with unrighteous- 
ness, and light hath no communion with dark- 
ness. Christ hath no concord with Belial, and 
the believer hath no part with an infidel. 

Some years ago, I asked a minister if the 
members of his church were harmonious and 
united. " Why — yes," said he, " They are 
united ; the same as the particles of an iceberg 
are united.'' Such a state of things is deplor- 
able. It is the precursor of death. . God in 
mercy sometimes stirreth up his people, as "an 



ULTIMATE RESULTS. 125 

eagle stirreth up her nest." The struggle must 
go on. It may be necessary as a discipline for 
each one of us. Surely the victory is grand 
in proportion to the severity of the fight. The 
crown will be all the more acceptable if the 
cross has been heavy. The reward will be all 
the sweeter if in order to obtain it we have 
struggled through hardships and discourage- 
ments, hoped against hope, and believed what 
seemed impossible, because God had said it. 
As to the precise nature of the ultimate results, 
w r e can only say, they will be grand beyond 
description or conception. If the natural man 
is unable to conceive what God hath revealed 
to his children here, much less are we able to 
comprehend the purity, the perfection, the 
glory that shall be revealed at the last day " 
Suffice it to say, It will be all that God can 
make it. The joy, the happiness, the harps, 
the songs, the crowns, the glory! It is over- 
whelming. The soul melts with the view, and 
cries out, " It is enough." By faith she grasps 
the goal already, and sings salvation to our 
God who hath given us the victory and se- 
cured for us the ultimate results. 

But are these results sure ? Shall purity, 



126 ULTIMATE RESULTS. 

perfection, glory, be reached ? We answef 
Yes. God has promised it. Much has al- 
ready been gained. Many a victory has been 
won. The steady march of events assures us 
of success. The great wheel which Ezekiel 
saw is rolling on. It turns not to the right or 
the left, nor will it stop till " He who is over 
all" shall give it command. The victory has 
seemed to be now on one side, then on the 
other, but it is evident that great advancement 
has been made. God is at the helm. His 
mighty power is moving on this work. In his 
own good time he will finish it. It will not 
delay. Soon the kingdoms of this world shall 
become the kingdoms of our Lord. Soon the 
heathen shall be given to Him for an inherit- 
ance. The nations of the earth shall bow at 
His feet and own Him Lord of all. Then 
shall the conflict cease. Then shall the nations 
learn war no more. Then shall He come forth 
in the glory of the Father and of the holy 
angels, and the shouts of victory shall echo 
and re-echo through the regions of glory, and 
Satan with his minions shall be driven back to 
his place and chained in dark despair forever. 



DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. \2J 



THE DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTH- 

ANISM. HOW IS IT TO BE 

ACCOMPLISHED? 

REV. H. A. STRAIL. 

My subject supposes the assignment of a 
particular mission to the several branches of 
the Christian Church ; a supposition founded 
upon, and supported by God's most Holy 
Word. "The Son of Man is as a man taking 
his journey into a far country, who left his 
house, and gave authority to his servants, and 
to every man his work." The apostle Paul 
recognized this view, when at the beginning of 
the new life he inquired, " Lord, what wilt thou 
have me to do ? " Everything of, and about 
us, confirms the voice of inspiration. Our 
wonderfully constructed bodies, and our still 
more wonderfully constituted minds, both 
argue that we exist for a purpose ; that we were 
created for active operations. When it is once 
determined in what this activity is to consist, 
the next question of importance is, " how is 
the work to be accomplished ? " 

To my mind, one question of importance 



128 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 

arises just here, the settlement of which will ^ 
be of greatest value in determining the way 
to success. Whence have we our commission? 
" Is it from heaven, or is it earth-born ?" Did 
it originate in the mind of the great Creator, 
or is it a product of creature mind ? If we are 
self-constituted commissioners, seeking some 
earthly good, a mere human attainment, the 
sooner our failure is realized the better for all 
concerned ; but if God has spoken unto us, 
and stamped our commission with the au- 
thority of His great name, the sooner we 
awake to a consciousness of the fact, and the 
people to whom we are sent are made to 
believe it, the better will we be qualified to 
push the contest on to victory. When Moses 
was constituted a leader unto the children of 
Israel, the "thus saith the Lord," gave him 
influence and authority which he could have 
nowhere else acquired. So too, we must real- 
ize and the people believe that we " have a 
message from God unto them." Now while I 
hold in contempt all efforts toward egotism 
and self-righteousness, with still greater con- 
tempt do I regard the spirit which shrinks and 
cowers to own Christ as its Lord and Master ; 



DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 1 29 

and though I have no wish to appear vain, I 
still say, and that without the slightest fear of 
successful refutation, that Lutheranism was 
"born not of blood, nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God — " 
born under circumstances nearly or quite as 
adverse to its existence as Christianity itself. 
From a humanly prospective standpoint, the 
odds were decidedly against it; yet it grew and 
flourished in the very face of opposition and 
wickedness in high places, until pulpit and 
pew both realized that the Master had declared 
"The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 

I would not be understood to say that ours 
is the only heaven-commissioned branch of the 
Church, but I simply claim for our own de- 
nomination what I am willing to concede to 
all others, subject to the Divine Spirit, that it 
is under the supervision of Heaven's King. 
Firmly holding that we have our commission 
from God, I now proceed to notice more 
directly " how it may be accomplished!' 

The first thing I wish to notice as essential 
to this great work is : 

Consecration unto God. 

This has always been the first great requisite 
9 



I3O DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERAN1SM. 

to the successful accomplishment of the work^ 
assigned God's people. When under the Jew- 
ish dispensation Aaron and his sons were to 
be entrusted with the sacred duties of the 
priesthood, the command was given unto 
Moses, " Thou shalt annoint Aaron and his 
sons, and consecrate them, that they may min- 
ister unto me in the priest's office." And when 
Moses was about to ascend the mountain to 
receive the tables of the law, prior to his leav- 
ing the people, he charged Aaron to consecrate 
them unto the Lord. This would help to 
keep them in remembrance of the Divine 
goodness ; and tend to produce a proper con- 
viction of the relation they sustained unto 
God, and of his claims upon them. If they 
lived, they lived unto the Lord, and if they 
died, they died unto the Lord ; whether they 
lived, therefore, or died, they were the Lord's. 
But from the account given by the sacred his- 
torian, it appears that for some unaccountable 
reason Aaron failed to execute this order, and, 
as a consequence, the people became impatient 
in looking for Moses, and fell into fearful idol- 
atry. They were walking without light, and 
the consequence was they stumbled and fell. 



DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERAN I SxW. I3I 

That David regarded consecration to God as 
of prime importance, is argued in the appeal 
which he made to the people when he delivered 
his charge concerning the building of the 
Lord's house : "And who then is willing to 
consecrate his service this day unto the Lord ? " 
It was not in the order of things to first build 
and then consecrate; but first let the service be 
consecrated, and then let the building be 
erected. Nor was there to be any delay in 
the work; it must be done that very day. 
From such illustrious examples we may learn 
that we are first to offer ourselves a sacrifice, 
wholly acceptable unto God, which is our rea- 
sonable service, and then look for His* bless- 
ing upon our works. In perfect conformity 
with this was the teaching of Him who 
was at once the root and offspring of David. 
" Seek ye first," said He, " the kingdom of God 
and its righteousness, and all these things shall 
be added unto you." Nothing else — no, not 
even all things else combined — could be of such 
great value unto them ; for even though a man 
should acquire the whole world, when brought 
into comparison with the crown of life, that 
would be as the most worthless pebble by the 



132 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 

side of the most costly jewel. It would never, 
aid him in the least to secure his soul's eternal 
peace, and his duties toward the human family 
would be wholly untouched. 

In Christ dwelleth all fullness, but in us 
dwelleih no good thing. " He that abideth in 
me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much 
fruit; for without me ye can do nothing." 

It is of no consequence that a man has ac- 
quired the highest social position, or climbed 
to the topmost point of fame's pinnacle. 
Though he has acquired a position in the vis- 
ible church, and his name is written by the side 
of Peter or Paul, yet this is of no real value. 
It may serve to tighten the shackles with which 
he is bound, and perfect the delusion that for- 
bids a proper view of his desperate condition, 
and leave him a lifeless, powerless soul, but it 
could do nothing better. To be able to do the 
will of God, one must have the mind of God. 
He must be joined to Christ by the new and 
living way. Of this truth the sacred writers 
have left an abundance of proof, which the 
world-spirit has never yet been able to success- 
fully gainsay. When the Apostle was yet un- 
acquainted with this fact, he exclaimed, "Who- 



DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 1 33 

is sufficient for these things ? " But when he 
had tested the reality of a walk with God, he 
declared, " I can do all things through Christ 
which strengthened me." With such a friend 
it did not matter that the demand was great, 
the opposition formidable, and the foe powerful ; 
Christ with him, and he was sure of conquest. 
So in the accomplishment of our mission we 
shall come off conquerors, and more than 
conquerers, through Him who loved us and 
gave Himself for us; and in no other way. 

Several things are implied in consecration to 
God which should be considered in the treat- 
ment of this subject. The first is an 

Abandonment of worldly -mindedness. 

There never was, neither will there ever be 
any concord between Christ and Belial, " For 
the carnal mind is enmity against God, and is 
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed 
can be." Such clear declarations forever set- 
tle the question of effecting a compromise be- 
tween the two; and he who supposes that he 
has accomplished this is deceiving himself, 
and indicating that the truth is not in him. 
"Ye cannot serve God and mammon/' is as full 
of force for the Church of this generation as 



134 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 

of any other. The moral condition of things - 
is such that the world, with all its fascinating 
charms and attractions, must be renounced be- 
fore Christ will admit any one into the relation 
of a disciple. " Love not the world," wrote 
the apostle, " neither the things of the world. 
If any man love the world, the love of the 
Father is not in him. For all that is in the 
world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the 
eye, and the pride of life, is not of the 
Father, but is of the world." In the face of 
such startling declarations, we can never hope 
to accomplish a heaven-conferred commission, 
while we are living in conformity with the 
world. 

A second requisite to consecration is the 

Possession of the Divine Spirit. 

Many references might here be given to 
support this position. Paul felt its need 
when he wrote to the Christians at Rome, 
" Except ye have the Spirit of Christ ye are 
none of His. And if Christ be in you the 
body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is 
life because of righteousness." At the very 
beginning of a Christian life, the influences of 
this Spirit are indispensable ; no man can come 



DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 1 35 

to Christ without it. Our Saviour taught Nic- 
odemus that he could never enter heaven 
unless he was born of it; and Paul told the 
Church, no man can say that Jesus is the 
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Nor is there a 
step of progress made in the march to glory 
but by its influences. They that worship Him 
must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. 
Had He not been with the disciples in the 
early history of the Church, Judaism would 
not have suffered her to live. No merely 
human institution could have withstood such 
dreadful odds for a single generation. With 
the promise of this our Lord cheered the 
hearts of His diciples when He revealed to 
them the sad intelligence of His departure, 
and with the fulfillment of the promise He 
made them mighty in the accomplishment of 
their mission on the day of Pentecost. Breth- 
ren, when our Church is controlled by the 
same Almighty influence we shall see the car 
move forward. There will then be a breaking 
in the enemies* ranks, and the crown designed 
by God for us will not be taken by another. 

One thing more is implied in consecration 
unto God, which is essential to the accom- 
plishment of our work : 



I36 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 

Due- regard vinst be entertained for His 
Word, House and Ordinances. 

One of the great reasons that vital godliness 
was nearly extinct in the Jewish church at the 
coming of Christ, was that these things were 
too lightly esteemed. It was charged against 
them by One who perfectly understood all 
history, "Ye have made the commandments of 
God of none effect through your tradition," 
you tl teach for doctrines the commandments 
of men." And if we of the nineteenth cen- 
tury follow the same paths, we shall arrive at 
the same goal. If, on the other hand — 

We make the law of God, 

Our study and delight, 
Amidst the labors of the day, 

And watches of the night, 

We then, like trees shall thrive, 

With waters near the root, 
Our doings prosper, every one, 

Our works yield heavenly fruit. 

When we are so easily influenced by the de- 
mands of a pleasure seeking, pleasure loving 
world, it would be well for us, as Lutherans, to 
remember the counsel of him who said, "Un- 
less I can be convinced by arguments drawn 



DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 1 37 

from the Word of God, I cannot, I will not re- 
cant." It is a matter of the greatest folly, and 
wickedness too, to attempt to meet the require- 
ments of the falsely so-called wise men of the 
age, who, " having itching ears," desire the 
minister to proclaim a new method of salva- 
tion, and God to create a new heaven, conform- 
able to their own wondrously wise concep- 
tions. Unto the pulpit God still gives the 
command, " Preach the preaching that I bid 
thee," and unto the pew, "Take heed how ye 
hear." Heeding these injunctions, we shall se- 
cure His favor. Growing careless thereof, we 
meet His displeasure. 

Then of all the places on earth dear to our 
hearts, the house of the Lord should be 
dearest. I know that this is not in conformity 
with the so-called advanced customs and 
usages of our age, but some very good and 
successful servants of God in other days be- 
lieved and taught the same doctrine. " I had 
rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my 
God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." 
" If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right 
hand forget her cunning ; let my tongue cleave 
to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jeru- 



I38 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 

salem above my chief joy." No one ever yet- 
entertained such high regard for God's house, 
who did not secure the blessing of the Al- 
mighty. We need a people who will dwell in 
the house of the Lord all the days of their 
lives ; who will give all due regard to all of 
His ordinances, simply because they are His, 
and not because they see, or fail to see'the rea- 
sonableness of them — men who, like Joshua, 
will declare, and live by the declaration — a As 
for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 
Could but that spirit possess and rule our 
church, we should hear less,/^r less complain- 
ing ; for the darkness would break, and the 
light and glory of God come upon us, filling 
us with joy and gladness. 

As a second great requisite to the successful 
accomplishment of our mission, I notice 

Consecration to the work. 

Without this, it is absurd to even look for 
success. No enterprise, however laudable, ever 
was accomplished without it ; while, on the 
other hand, many things which men have re- 
garded as impossibilities have been secured by 
means of it. When the inspired writer gives 
an account of the second building of the walls 



DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERAN1SM. 1 39 

of Jerusalem, under circumstances so unfavor- 
able that the enemies of the builder regarded 
the effort with derisive contempt, he accounts 
for the grand success which attended their 
labors by saying, " The people had a mind to 
work." Consecration to the work paid no re- 
gard to the formidable opposition, the scoffings 
of a wicked enemy, or the limited number en- 
gaged in the undertaking. Only two things 
seem to have met their vision : the first was the 
accomplishment of their mission ; and the 
second the way God would be glorified therein. 
This same disposition pervaded the mind of 
Peter and John, when in the presence of the 
Jewish authorities, and in opposition to their 
most daring threats, they reply, " Whether it be 
right in the sight of God to hearken unto you 
more than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot 
but speak those things which we have seen 
and heard.' ' This spirit assisted the early 
Christians in bringing their possessions, or the 
price thereof, and laying them at the apostles' 
feet. Would to God that the present genera- 
tion might be aided in making the sacrifice re- 
quired by this same spirit ! 

Would that we might all be consecrated first 



I40 DISTINCTIVE MISSION OF LUTHERANISM. 

to God, and then to our work ; for this would 
help us to " believe all things, endure all 
things, hope all things." It would open the 
coffers of the rich man to the relief of the 
poor man's sufferings. It would roll away the 
reproach that has ever been heaped upon the 
Church because of insincerity and cowardice. 
It would fill all our vacant pulpits and empty 
pews. ' It would bring all our unbaptized chil- 
dren to the baptismal font, and all the im- 
penitent to the altar of confession and faith. 
It would suffer none of our sons and daugh- 
ters to seek shelter in other folds for want of 
room in ours. But we should then find our 
table laden with a bounteous supply of 
heavenly viands, " and the poor, the maimed, 
the halt, and the blind," would hear our earn- 
est appeal and seek the shelter of our fold. 
And we should be ready at the appearing of 
the Master to say, " I have finished the work 
Thou gavest me to do." 

God help us to make the consecration. 



FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. I4I 

FIRST IN HONOR, FIRST IN SERVICE. 

REV. O. D. S. MARCLEY, A. M. 
[An extract from an address delivered at Selins- 
grove, during the Commencement of 1878.] 

This address was founded upon the memor- 
able words of Jesus, " Whosoever will be 
chiefest shall be servant of all." It was highly 
commended, and a copy was solicited for 
publication. It was befitting that something 
from our esteemed brother's pen should be 
seen in these memorial pages, and, by request, 
his respected widow placed the MS. at our dis- 
posal. Throughout the address is rich in 
thought, strong, and sometimes startling in 
expression. 

He commenced with the statement that God 
means man to be all that he can be — that his 
aspirations cannot transcend his destination — 
that in his achievements he is limited only by 
his capacity and powers of endurance, and that 
he attains greatness himself by service which 
benefits others. In the illustration of his 
theme, he alluded to the artist, the poet, the 
musician, the astronomer, and he finally brings 
to view the preacher, and directs attention to 



142 FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. 

the "pulpit and its services!' And now we 
give his own words. 

The apostle said, if a man desire the office 
of a bishop, he desireth a good work. He did 
not say, an office of honor, nor of ease, but a 
good work. And I think experience bears me 
out in saying, it is the hardest kind of work. 
Let us get Paul's judgment from his own lan- 
guage, "For I think," said he, "that God hath 
set forth us, the apostles, last, as it were a 
spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to 
men. Even unto this present hour we both 
hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buf- 
feted, and have no certain dwelling place ; and 
labor, working with our own hands; being 
reviled, we bless ; being persecuted, we suffer 
it ; being defamed, we entreat." 

O, the value of such a worker ! What in- 
calculable service ! What a champion of the 
truth ! What a defender of the faith ! Thou- 
sands of generations will rise up and call him 
blessed. He brought skill, self-consecration 
and great earnestness to the cross; not the 
mannerisms of the schools and the wisdom of 
words, but the demonstration and power of the 
Spirit. Painstaking fitness only can qualify 
for valuable service here, as elsewhere. 



FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. I43 

There can be found no place where gospel 
work is not needed, where the most skilled 
worker is not required. The too oft repeated 
exclamation, amounting well nigh to a maxim 
— "Oh, he will do for some places" — involves 
a serious mistake. The more illiterate the 
people, the more difficult to bring them up to 
the true gospel standard. Ignorance is the 
first obstacle in the way of salvation, and shall 
I say the greatest hindrance in Christian work ? 
There is no profession in which the same high 
qualifications are needed, or the same measure 
of skill and laboriousness is necessary, as in 
the Christian ministry. Those who anticipate 
honor, ease, pleasure in the sacred office, are 
sure to realize sorrowful disappointment. The 
very word minister signifies servant. And the 
service to be performed is of the hardest kind. 
The epaulette, the gay uniform, the imposing 
dress parade, doubtless attract not a few to 
military life. But they are very soon unde- 
ceived, and the pleasing delusion is swept 
away by the stern realities of war— the forced 
march, the bloody contest. The Christian em- 
bassador is to endure hardness like a good sol- 
dier of the Cross, without fear, without com- 



144 FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. 

plaint. God has called him to the work. A 
terrible sense of duty is upon him. The love 
of Christ constrains him. His soul is sympa- 
thetically drawn out towards his fellow-men. 
He realizes that there is a woe hanging over 
him if he does not faithfully preach the gospel. 
And all these motives and influences are 
needed to prompt him to the rigid discipline, 
the self-denial, the life of servitude and priva- 
tion to which he may be subjected. 

I am not unmindful that God has ordained 
that they who preach the gospel should live of 
the gospel, nor has that regulation been coun- 
teracted by giny subsequent deliverance. Their 
abilities to preach are the fruits of their God- 
given endowments, developed and directed by 
tireless application in study and prayer. And 
while they thus impart to the people the rich- 
ness of the gospel, it is but simple justice that 
their temporal necessities should be amply 
supplied by those to whom they minister. 
And yet who does not see that the liberality of 
the Church, other things being equal, must 
ever be proportionate with their estimate of the 
worth of the ministry. Hence the significance 
of Christ's language, " Whosoever will be great 



FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. I45 

among you, shall be your minister." The idea 
is, the ministry calls for the loftiest manhood, 
the richest intellectual, moral, spiritual attain- 
ments. As if the Saviour had said, " Let the 
noblest men, those of highest qualifications, be 
your ministers." The pulpit, as a means to an 
end, stands next to the Bible as an educator, as 
a reformer, as a leader to the nations. "After 
that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wis- 
dom knew not God, it pleased God by the 
foolishness of preaching to save them that be- 
lieve." But the "foolishness of preaching" 
happens to mean an elevation of wisdom which 
but few have acquired. Peter and Paul were 
preachers. Knox and Bunyan were preachers. 
Wesley and Whitefield were preachers. Mar- 
tin Luther and Richard Baxter were preachers, 
and when the attention is turned to such men 
as ministers of Christ, no one can fail to see 
that the "foolishness of preaching," which se- 
cures salvation, means not a want of under- 
standing, but the highest order of talent and 
the most practical type of wisdom. The 
Christian minister is the living agent under the 
Spirit of God, and of the sacred word in public 
worship. There he is pre-eminently a servant, 



I46 FIRST IN HONOR AND SERVICE. 

and the better the work, the more valuable the 
service. The more efficient the efforts of the 
preacher, the more signal the benefits of the 
hearer. From under the skillful workman, we 
separate from the house of God full of the 
help of pure motives, full of the inspiration of 
grand purposes, full of the joy of salvation, 
wiser and better, praising the ministry, and 
praising most Him who appointed it. Prof. 
Park, says the editor of " Massallon's Lent 
Sermons/' regards it a prodigy that he finished 
a discourse in so short a time as ten or twelve 
days. This eminent preacher, it is said, some- 
times re-wrote the same sermon fifteen and 
twenty times. A distinguished scholar of our 
own land re-wrote the most useful of his ser- 
mons thirteen or fourteen times, and in one in- 
stance is said to have labored, with the assist- 
ance of a literary friend, two whole days on 
as many sentences. A living divine, who has 
been called the prince of pulpit orators, spent 
a fortnight on a single discourse, which, it is 
claimed, has already accomplished more good 
than four thousand which were written by an- 
other of our pastors at the rate of two a week. 
The choicest efforts and the best produc- 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 47 

tions which the most cultured minds are cap- 
able of furnishing, alone are worthy of the dig- 
nity of the pulpit. 

THE MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

REV. M KLING. 

As time rapidly passes away, we are admon- 
ished " to remember the former days," in order 
that we may gather from them useful lessons, 
which may better fit us for the duties of the 
present day. It is a solemn and impressive, 
as well as a pleasant duty, to revive the mem- 
ories of our " pious departed ones." A few of 
these had labored long and faithfully, amid 
trials and dangers peculiar to their time ; and 
entered upon their eternal rest, long before we 
began to live. But as they left behind them, 
in our midst, a rich legacy of moral and reli- 
gious influence, therefore, in a special sense, 
we regard them as our departed. 

The town of Sharon, which formerly included 
the town of Seward, was originally called " New 
Dorlach," from Dorlach in Germany; and was 
first settled by the immediate descendants of 
those German emigrants who, in 17 14, located 
in the Schoharie and Mohawk valleys. 



I48 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

In their religious preferences, most of them 
were followers of Martin Luther, the " Great 
Reformer" of the sixteenth century. At that 
early day, they were compelled to look for the 
ministrations of the gospel to the mother 
church of Schoharie ; nor did they look in 
vain. As time and opportunity permitted, the 
pastor would wend his way from Old Schoharie 
along a bridle-path to this wild and thinly set- 
tled region, to break to these hungry Protes- 
tant Christians the bread of life. 

The faithful shepherd, who was the first to 
sow the seed of gospel truth, from which, as 
also from the seed sowed by others who fol- 
lowed him, such glorious results have been 
realized in " New Dorlach," was the 

REV. PETER NICHOLAS SOMERS. 
We are informed that " he was a native of 
Germany, received ordination in London by a 
Lutheran ecclesiastical council, was called and 
ministered to the Lutheran congregation at 
Schoharie, during the French and Revolution- 
ary wars, sharing the dangers and priva- 
tions of those perilous times with his peo- 
ple, and comforting them with the consola- 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 49 

tions and hopes of the gospel." Here he 
labored from about 1743 until 1783, as their 
regular pastor, and died in 1795 in the town of 
Sharon, in the family of his son. And from 
here, with his wife, after being buried sixty-five 
years, he was taken back to the old cemetery 
of Schoharie, the scene of his former labors, 
and over his grave a beautiful monument has 
been erected, expressive of appreciated worth. 

Some time in the latter part of the last cen- 
tury, two Lutheran churches were organized 
in the present town of Seward, which were 
designated by the local names of, " the church 
of Dorlach," and, " the church of Rhinebeck." 
I am not prepared to say whether the Rev. P, 
N. Somers organized these societies while he 
occasionally came among them to preach the 
gospel, or some one else. But the first settled 
pastor, as far as we have been enabled to learn, 
was the 

REV. HENRY MOELLER. 

This servant of Christ before that time had 
labored in Albany, and in the early part of the 
present century took charge of the above- 
named churches, living in the parsonage near 
the Rhinebeck church. Here he labored until 



I50 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

about the year 1822, when he retired from the 
ministry, and after living with his son, Dr. 
John C. Moeller, in the present town of 
Sharon, some eight or nine years, departed 
this life and entered upon his eternal reward. 
It is said that he was a good scholar, a sound 
theologian, and an acceptable preacher. And 
to this is added that he possessed a very ami- 
able disposition. With these combined quali- 
fications, we wonder not that he labored so 
long and closed up his earthly career among 
the people of his former charge. His place in 
the ministry and last charge were soon filled 
by a son of one of his members, born and 
reared in the congregation, the 

REV. ADAM CROWNSE. 
Here, in the vigor and strength of youthful 
manhood, he commenced his labors about the 
year 1822, and served the congregations for 
the space of about four years, after which he 
received and accepted a call from the Lutheran 
church of Guilderland, Albany county. Here 
he soon located, and with the exception of a 
few years that he served the churches of Mid- 
dleburgh and Breakabeen, he spent the remain- 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. I 5 I 

der of his ministerial life among this people. 
And here he died and entered upon his eternal 
rest in heaven about the year 1865. 

We feel to venerate and cherish the record 
of those early fathers in the ministry for what 
they have done for us in the township of our 
birth — for we should not lose sight of the fact 
that they lived and labored during a period of 
national trials and embarrassments. The wars 
of the Revolution and of 18 12 cast their 
blighting influence over the land, and not only 
financially, but spiritually, the churches suffered 
much, which was felt during the succeeding 
years. And it is but fair, in looking back over 
those years of darkness and spiritual dearth, 
to presume that, faithfully as they labored, they 
saw and deeply felt that the state of religion 
fell far short of what they ardently desired. 

But we find that those days of adversity 
were about passing away ; a great and glorious 
reaction was soon to follow. The evils of war 
had well nigh spent their strength, and the 
public mind, filled to surfeiting with the de- 
moralizing offerings of earth, began to look 
and long for the substantial treasures of the 
gospel. The Great Head of the Church, who 



152 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

overrules all circumstances and events for the 
spiritual welfare of Zion, had some faithful 
praying ones left ; and in answer to prayer He 
was opening the way, and was soon to furnish 
the efficient instrumentality to effect His own 
glorious purposes. After a vacancy of some 
considerable time, the Lutheran churches of 
the Sharon charge invited the 

REV. P. WIETING. 
Of Lowville, Lewis county, N. Y., who, in the 
vigor of youthful manhood, was then laboring 
in that region as a home missionary, to visit 
and preach for them, with a view, if satisfactory, 
to settle him as their pastor. He came among 
them and preached his trial sermon on the first 
Sabbath in September, 1828 ; and, as these ser- 
vices gave general satisfaction, he received 
a call, and entered upon his labors among them 
on the first of November following. The rela- 
tion then and there formed extended over the 
long period of forty years. 

Aside from his former missionary labors, 
this was his first and only charge. In looking 
over the history of those memorable years, 
and the great and happy results that followed 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 53 

his labors, none can doubt that God had pre- 
pared the way and selected the man, to bring 
about His own wonderful purposes in this part 
of His moral vineyard. 

While the writer was born and reared within 
the bounds of his charge, and first heard the 
preached gospel from his lips, yet still he has 
no distinct recollection of the religious move- 
ments in these churches, until the sweeping re- 
vival of 1832. But as he was my pastor, and 
I sat under his ministry for many years, besides 
being a ministerial member of the same synod 
with him for eighteen years, I can speak with 
confidence of what I do know, and testify of 
what I have seen, of his life and labors. 

His preaching was evangelical, plain, pointed, 
and eminently practical. It was clearly seen 
and impressively felt, that his sole object in the 
pulpit was the conversion of sinners and the 
spiritual advancement of believers. In all his 
ministrations he seemed to lose sight of self, 
and to hide behind the Master. He honored 
Christ by holding him up constantly as the 
only hope of a lost world, and Christ honored 
him by giving him multitudes of souls as seals 
to his ministry. Many preceded and many 



154 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

have followed him to the better land since his 
departure, and some are still lingering on the 
shores of time, whom in the great day he will " 
recognize as his spiritual children begotten in 
the gospel. As a pastor, he exerted an almost 
unbounded influence over his people. Few 
ever exceeded him in pastoral labor, or were 
better acquainted with the spiritual condition 
and financial standing of every family of a 
charge. As a keen observer of human nature, 
and a man of remarkably good sense and 
judgment, he was enabled to handle each mem- 
ber with consummate skill, and all were gener- 
ally controlled by his counsel and advice, 
But his personal labors on earth finally closed ; 
he had filled up the measure of his days in 
great usefulness, and the Lord now called him 
home to rest in heaven, on the seventh day 
of September, 1869. 

It is pleasing to know that, " though dead 
he still speaketh," for the works he wrought 
on earth follow him, and the influence he left 
behind will live and be felt during succeeding 
generations. All who knew him well, and 
especially those who sat under his ministry, 
will sacredly cherish his memory, as a fearless 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 5 5 

preacher and a faithful, devoted pastor. The 
place where his body rests will be visited by 
his surviving spiritual children, with tender, 
mournful feelings, as often as opportunity is 
afforded, to scatter flowers upon his grave, as 
tokens of filial love. 

Brother Wieting having resigned his charge 
in the fall of 1868, the succeeding June Rev. 
P. H. Turner received license from the Franck- 
ean Synod, and took charge of the church of 
Gardnersville. We believe he was a member 
of the Lutheran church of Ancram, Columbia 
county, N. Y. He was regarded as a decidedly 
good man, an excellent pastor and an accept- 
able preacher; and his labors were soon at- 
tended with quite an extensive religious awak- 
ening, which resulted in a large ingathering into 
his church. But while the affections of both 
pastor and people were becoming mutually 
nrdent and strong, and the outlook in the"Tuture 
seemed cheerful and promising, alas ! suddenly 
and most unexpectedly he was called away by 
death, while on a visit to Columbia county, on 
the tenth day of September, 1 871, and there 
he was buried. That he was beloved by the 
members of the Gardnersville church, is very 



I56 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

evident ; since after a lapse of ten years, they 
still fondly refer to him in language and ex- 
pressions indicative of deep sorrow of heart. 
But we feel a sense of relief in the fact, that 
thus far, he is the last of the pastors of this 
charge whose death we have been called upon 
to record. Others have since faithfully and 
successfully labored in this field, but they are 
still spared to the church, to fulfill their high 
destiny in the Lord's vineyard. And now we 
turn with mournful interest to other of our 
departed ones, who had both their natural and 
spiritual births within the bounds of the pas- 
toral district of Sharon and New Rhinebeck. 
Quite a goodly number of men were flirnished 
by these churches for the gospel ministry, who 
went out into different sections of the land, 
and preached the glad tidings of salvation. 
Most of these are still in the field, but some 
have died and gone to their reward on high. 
And the first of these in the order of time, we 
think, was the 

REV. JOHN ROSENBERG, 
Who in the glow of youth and ardent piety, 
after pursuing a proper course of study, en- 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 57 

tered the ministry about the year 184 1, and 
after laboring a few years in Pennsylvania, in 
the midst of his usefulness, fell a victim to 
death while yet in the very morning of his 
life. 

We now turn our attention to our lamented 
brother, the 

REV. DAVID OTTMAN. 

He was born within the bounds of Rhine- 
beck church, near the close of the last century; 
and before brother Wieting entered upon his 
charge in Sharon in 1828, brother Ottman was 
married, and with his family lived on the farm 
now owned by Peter Bellinger, one mile west 
of Sharon Hill. We are informed that he was 
one of the first fruits of brother Wieting's 
labors in this large field. He was a man of 
more than ordinary ability. In stirring power 
and unction, very few exceeded him in prayer. 
He possessed a keen analytical mind ; and with 
the limited advantages that were afforded him 
in the days of his youth, it was a matter of sur- 
prise to many, how that in the midst of a 
large family, and in the cultivation of a large 
farm, he by his own individual effort acquired 



I58 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

such a general store of knowledge. In the 
Scriptures he manifested great familiarity, and 
in theology he was as clear and systematic as" 
some of our best theologians. Under the 
urgent necessities of the churches, it is not 
strange that he was urged by some of his best 
friends, as well as by a sense of duty, to give 
at least a part of his time to the work of the 
ministry. Though he pursued through life his 
early occupation, yet having been licensed, he 
commenced his labors and served the Luth- 
eran church at Freysbush, for a length of 
time. In 184 1 he organized the church at 
Centre Valley, and labored among them for 
about two years with acceptance and great suc- 
cess. He finally settled in Walworth county, 
Wisconsin, where in September, 1845, he or- 
ganized the Lutheran church of Sharon. The 
early members of this church were principally 
old acquaintances and members of the churches 
in Schoharie and Montgomery counties, New 
York. A few years after this, he very unex- 
pectedly was called away to his rest in heaven, 
after having passed the meridian of life. 

We next call to mind our highly respected 
brother, the 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 159 

REV. WILLIAM OTTMAN. 

He was born in the town of Seward, per- 
haps about the year 1809 or 18 10, and was a 
member of the Rhinebeck church. The record 
shows that he entered the ministry as early as 
1 83 1. His first charge was the church of 
Clay, in 1832, which he served three years, 
and then took charge of the church of Freys- 
bush, which he served three years, and then 
returned again to Clay in 1839. While we 
have no definite record at hand, our impression 
is that he labored here at least twenty years 
more. Here he was married, here the most of 
his children were born, and here his sainted 
wife died. 

The last charge he served was the church of 
Black Lake, where he entered upon his labors 
in 1862, and here he departed this life in 1870, 
to enter upon his eternal reward in heaven. 
Brother Ottman performed a good work in the 
ministry, and seemingly he died without leav- 
ing an enemy in the world. 

The last one we are called upon to remem- 
ber in this connection, is our deeply-lamented 
brother, the 



l6o MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

REV. O. D. S. MARCLEY. 
He was born in the town of Seward, about the 
year 1842, and early in life became the subject 
of saving grace, and united with the Lutheran 
church of Gardnersville. Being impressed with 
the duty of serving the Lord in the ministry, he 
soon entered upon and completed a full course 
of study. In the year 1867, after sustaining 
an excellent examination, he was licensed to 
preach the gospel, and soon after entered the 
active work of the ministry in the church of 
Freysbush. After laboring here some three 
years with success and satisfaction to the peo- 
ple, he received and accepted a call from the 
churches of Orleans district. In this large field 
he labored faithfully and successfully for the 
space, I think, of about five years. Resigning 
his charge here, he settled in Pennsylvania, and 
took charge of the church of Ashland, where 
he labored perhaps some three years more- 
He then was induced to resign his charge at 
Ashland, and accept a call from a prominent 
Lutheran church in Bloomsburg, in the same 
state. Here he was located, and having la- 
bored long enough among them to become 
w r ell acquainted with the people and the real 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. l6l 

wants of the church, and just when the pros- 
pects looked promising of realizing a rich har- 
vest from his well-laid plans and operations, 
he was suddenly removed by death from 
the church on earth to the church in heaven, 
at the early age of about thirty-eight years. 
Those who knew him best are prepared to say 
that he possessed amiable traits of character. 
His friendship was ardent, trustworthy, and 
abiding. And while he had a great interest in 
the Lutheran church everywhere, he always 
manifested a special attachment for that church 
and those ministerial brethren, among whom 
he commenced his Christian life and labors. 

As already intimated, brother Marcley was 
a young man of splendid abilities, and was 
rapidly rising and fairly on the way of be- 
coming one of the most efficient ministers in 
our church. But the Great Head of the 
Church saw fit to call him away in the midst 
of a promising life, and we bow in humble 
submission to His will. 

And now while we close up the list of those 

of our departed that went out of these 

churches, to serve the Lord in the ministry, 

we will not be unmindful of others, who as lay 

ii 



1 62 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

members so faithfully served Christ. Very 
many in this connection might be mentioned 
with pleasure, but time and space will permit 
us to notice only a few of the most prominent 
ones. 

And the first of these, in our esteem and 
veneration, is the sainted 

JOHN EMPIE. 

In some respects he was a remarkable man ; 
and divine grace made him just what he was, 
a burning, shining light in the world and a 
power in the church. 

As early as 1808, being then about thirty- 
three years of age, after a long and fearful 
struggle, he found Christ precious to his soul. 
At that period, as • related by him, spiritual 
darkness hung over the churches, and experi- 
mental piety was unthought of by the many 
and professed by very few. Hence in his 
troubled state of mind, he hardly knew the 
nature of his anxieties, whom to consult, or 
where to find relief. But the Lord by His 
spirit was surely leading him in the way he 
knew not of, and finally brought him into the 
light and liberty of the gospel of Christ. He 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 63 

was remarkable for his unwavering, undeviat- 
ing perseverance in the course of piety from 
that time till the day of his death. With him 
religion was a living, controlling principle, to 
be carried out in all the activities and relations 
of life. That responsibility he accepted, and 
in a remarkable degree carried out, without 
turning to the right or the left. He was re- 
markable for the controlling and lasting influ- 
ence he exerted over others ; probably no 
other lay member in the church excelled him 
in this respect. He had this power with men 
because he had power with God, and lived 
pre-eminently a holy life. 

Twenty years after his conversion, at the 
time brother Weiting became his pastor, he 
found him one of the few praying souls in the 
church. He labored and prayed until he saw 
multitudes around him converted and gathered 
into the church ; and when he died, he not 
only saw his own children, but nearly all his 
children's children, members of the flock of 
Christ. Though he passed away from earth 
some eighteen years ago, to reap the rewards 
of heaven, his influence on earth remains, and 
will continue through future generations. 



164 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED.. 

Another of the older members of the 
church, whose name is held in grateful remem- 
brance for his Christian fidelity and piety even 
in those early days of spiritual dearth, is 

DR. JOHN C. MOELLER, 

son of Rev. Henry Moeller. While he was a 
physician of extensive practice in the towns of 
Sharon and Seward, he was also an influential 
member of the Lutheran church, and by his 
prayers and personal labors among the people, 
was largely instrumental in bringing about in 
later years a religious revival in the churches 
of the Sharon charge. He was one of the few 
praying members that brother Wieting found 
in 1828, when he commenced his labors in this 
field ; and in those great revivals that followed 
a few years after, Dr. Moeller greatly aided his 
Pastor by his hearty sympathy, co-operation, 
and prayers. He was qualified both to treat 
for the diseases of the body, and to counsel 
and pray for those who were anxious about 
their souls' salvation. The last act of his life, 
after the close of a day's labor in his profes- 
sion, was to gather around him his family to 
lead them in family worship. That very night 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 65 

he was stricken down with apoplexy, and 
breathed his last before the light of another 
day. This occurred in May, 1849. His ^ e > 
like Jacob's of old, closed in the midst of his 
family, while invoking the blessings of God to 
rest upon them. 

In reviewing the past, the name of our vener- 
able father in the Church, 

WILLIAM OTTMAN, 
claims at least a passing thought. He was the 
oldest of all the members with whom the 
writer had an intimate acquaintance. He was 
born in the year 1766 ; and at the early age of 
fourteen, in the Revolutionary War, was taken 
prisoner and carried to Canada. After a few 
years he was permitted to return home, and 
some time after he became a member of the 
Rhinebeck church, when we are not able to say. 
Still we know that he professed saving grace, 
as he once related his Christian experience to 
me, and he was that one praying member, often 
spoken of, that brother Wieting found in the 
Rhinebeck church when he took charge of it. 
He passed away from earth some twenty-seven 
years ago, to reap the reward of the righteous. 



1 66 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

Another brother in Christ, the mention of 
whose name awakens hallowed feelings in the 
hearts of all who knew him well, is 

HENRY SOMERS. 

At what time of life he experienced religion 
and united with the Rhinebeck church, we are 
unable to say ; but as long as we have any 
recollection, he was a devout, praying man. 
Of all the lay members of the church, none 
exceeded him in the gift of prayer. In the el- 
oquence, fervency, and power of prayer, he was 
truly wonderful, and in this respect very few 
either ministerial or lay brethren equaled him. 
At his house, in a crowded social prayer-meet- 
ing, we once heard him pray and continue to 
pray until some five or six anxious souls were 
born into the kingdom of Christ. 

For a few years before his death he was 
gradually wasting away with consumption; but 
as long as he could move about, he would 
meet his brethren in the prayer circle. And 
the last time he attended such a meeting from 
home is well remembered and often spoken of 
by those who were present. He came some 
two miles to the house of Father Empie, where 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. \6j 

prayer-meetings were wont to be held, and as 
he said, to meet his dear brethren for the last 
time in the prayer circle. Though very feeble 
in body and hoarse in voice, his prayer and ex- 
hortation on that occasion will never be for- 
gotten. He spoke as a dying man, exhorting 
his brethren to hold on and persevere in their 
Christian course, and admonishing the impeni- 
tent to seek an interest in Christ. The mode 
and manner of his exercises it would be in 
vain to attempt to describe, but the effects were 
clearly seen and deeply felt; it was just such 
'a scene as will never be forgotten. And his 
prediction proved but too true ; after this they 
saw his face no more in that prayer circle— his 
work in the church on earth was about done, 
and the Master soon after this called him home 
to the church triumphant, to share the reward 
of the righteous. 

Though thirty-seven years have rolled away 
since his departure, his memory still remains 
green and flourishing in many hearts; and while 
we think of the sainted ones above, his name 
is always associated with that happy throng. 

In a most striking manner the saving power 
of divine grace was manifested in the person of 



1 68 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

DAVID MERENES. 
This is another of our departed ones, whose 
Christian fidelity and most devoted life proved 
a great blessing to the church of his choice. 
He was a man of strong intellectual powers, 
and of an ardent temperament. In his earlier 
life he was much engaged in the pleasures and 
hilarities of the world, and in consequence be- 
came irregular in his habits, very skeptical in 
his religious views, and a strong opposer to 
vital religion. To reach and control such a 
person by the saving influences of the gospel, 
seemed to be almost a hopeless case. It is- 
well remembered that in the first great revival 
at Sharon in 1832, he openly opposed the work 
by strongly arguing the doctrine of Universal- 
ism. But the great and important change in his 
life occurred in a religious revival in the same 
church, the following year. With a man of 
such strong mind and fixed convictions, as well 
as confirmed habits, nothing but the power of 
Divine grace could correct his religious views, 
cause him to renounce his wayward course, 
and erpbrace Christ as the only Saviour of his 
soul. And yet, judging from his subsequent 
life, all this was effected in his case. As far as 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 169 

we, then in our youthful days, were able to 
judge, we never witnessed a more complete 
consecration of body, soul and spirit, to the 
service of the Lord. He never was known, in 
the least, to flag in his religious zeal, from the 
time of his conversion until the day of his 
death. He was radical in his views in regard 
to the moral and religious enterprises of the 
age ; and Puritanic in his religious life and sense 
of duty. In thus carrying out his convictions 
without fear or favor, he proved a terror to evil 
doers, but a great motive power in stimulating 
the church to walk in the path of Christian 
duty. His religious career, though short, was 
a faithful and successful one ; very few in so 
short a period left a deeper and more abiding 
influence behind. In the Fall of 1840, seven 
years after his conversion, and just after he had 
enjoyed another blessed revival in the Sharon 
church, of which he was a member, he was 
taken sick, and in a short time departed this 
life to enter upon his eternal reward. His 
dying message to his Pastor was: "Tell 
brother Wieting that I die in the same faith in 
which I lived." 



I70 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. . 

JOHN C. SHUTTS. 

The above named person was a most worthy 
member of the church, and a brother of rare 
Christian traits of character. He became a 
subject of Divine grace in the earlier years of 
brother Wieting's ministry in this district, and 
became a member of the Rhinebeck church. 
He possessed an amiable disposition, a sound 
judgment, and always responded to every claim 
and requirement of the church with a consci- 
entious regard. His fine sense of right and of 
Christian obligation ever prompted him to 
contribute of his money as cheerfully and re- 
peatedly, for the furtherance of the gospel at 
home and abroad, as he performed any other 
Christian duty. 

His religion controlled him in every act of 
his life ; and so perfectly was that life in sweet 
accord with the spirit and teachings of the" 
gospel, that the most impious would speak of 
him as a model Christian man. Being so 
amiable in disposition, so correct in his Chris- 
tian life, and so perfectly honorable in all his 
dealings, he was esteemed by all, and when he 
passed away all classes lamented his death. 
He died in 1865, aged 62 years. 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. \J\ 

SEBASTIAN SHANK. 
This brother was one of those few Chris- 
tians who professed experimental religion in 
those earlier times, when such a thing in this 
region seemed to be generally unknown. 
Some time before brother Wieting entered 
upon his work in Sharon and Rhinebeck, 
brother Shank was known to be a devout, pray- 
ing man, and in his sphere labored earnestly to 
bring about a better spiritual state in the Lu- 
theran church at Cobleskill, of which he was 
a member ; but his well-meant efforts not being 
encouraged, but in a measure opposed, he 
finally dissolved his connection here, and united 
with the Rhinebeck church. He was at all 
times very much engaged in religion ; and no 
subject lay so near his heart as the cause of 
Christ ; and no name would awaken such ten- 
der emotions as the name of Jesus. In every 
sense he was a good man and a ripe Christian ; 
and when he passed away, the church lost one 
of its brightest lights. But we have reason to 
be grateful that he was spared to the church so 
long a time, as he did not go down to his 
grave until about eighty-six years of age. 
Though we shall see his face no more on earth, 



172 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

he has left a holy influence behind as a legacy 
to the church. 

JOHN I. EMPIE, 
a son of the sainted John Empie, was one of 
the first fruits of brother Weiting's labors in 
the Sharon charge ; and was one of the pastor's 
most steadfast friends and safest counsellors in 
all that pertained to the interest of the church. 
He was a brother of more than ordinary intel- 
lectual capacity — always true to his Christian 
profession, and to the end of his days was an 
honor to the church and a blessing to the 
world. The Lord had entrusted him with 
many talents, and so faithfully did he improve 
them that he gained a long continued advance- 
ment in the Divine life. He was another one 
of those brethren that possessed a wonderful 
gift in prayer, in the exercise of which it was 
clearly seen and felt that he attended to it invari- 
ably every day of his life. Perhaps at no period 
in the history of the church was his wise coun- 
sel and active co-operation more needed than 
at the time of his death. But the Lord, in His 
inscrutable providence, removed him suddenly 
from the pains and toils of earth to his eternal 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 73 

rest in heaven ; and while the church most 
keenly feels her loss, the consoling thought re- 
mains that their loss is his eternal gain. He 
died some three or four years ago, aged about 
seventy years. 

PETER S. CROSS. 

This dear brother became a subject of saving 
grace, and united with the Rhinebeck church, 
I believe about the year 1832. The social feel- 
ing was one of the prominent characteristics of 
his nature, and hence he was extremely fond of 
society. By this means he formed an exten- 
sive acquaintance, and his name far and wide 
became as familiar as household words. But 
in all the relations of life, he was ready to bear 
testimony to the reality of saving grace, and 
vindicate the cause of Christ. He was warmly 
attached to the church of his choice, and was 
one of the greatest admirers and most devoted 
friends of brother Wieting that I ever knew. 
We believe he faithfully strove to live a Chris- 
tian life, and as he passed through a lingering 
sickness and neared the borders of death, he 
manifested the calm fortitude and resignation 
of a disciplined Christian. His pathway be- 



174 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

came brighter and brighter still, until he 
stepped from the shores of time to try the 
realities of eternity. Upwards of forty years 
did he serve his Master, and died at about the 
age of sixty-nine years. His dying testimony 
was, " The religion which I professed in life is 
my comfort now, and will sustain me in the 
hour of death/' 

CHRISTIAN OTTMAN. 

The above-named brother was the oldest son 
of the venerable William Ottman ; and from his 
youth was known to be very industrious, pos- 
sessing great business tact. With him it 
seemed to be a constitutional trait to prosecute 
any and every piece of work with all his might, 
and for this reason he might by many be re- 
garded as extremely worldly and grasping in 
his feelings ; but we are sure that he was far 
from being avaricious, and possessed a gener- 
ous, benevolent heart. In the first great re- 
vival that occurred in Sharon, he promptly 
yielded to the claims of the gospel, and gave 
his heart to God. He was a member of the 
Rhinebeck church, and readily assumed all the 
responsibilities, and discharged every duty that 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 75 

pertains to the Christian life. In 1837, he lo- 
cated within the bounds of the Sharon church, 
with which he united and remained a faithful 
member the remainder of his life. He by 
great industry as a stirring business man had 
accumulated considerable property; and a por- 
tion of this was freely given from time to time 
for the support of the church and the cause of 
Christ abroad. Busy and stirring as he ever 
was, he always found time to attend to the 
wants of the church, and promptly to attend to 
the stated means of grace. He was a good, 
praying man, and when he died the church 
lost one of its main supporters. He left us 
some twelve years ago, to enjoy his eternal rest 
above. 

PETER HAYNES. 

This dear brother was one of those faithful 
praying members of the Sharon church, whose 
memory will remain enshrined in the heart of 
all those that were associated with him in 
church fellowship. His every-day life, as well 
as the deep interest he ever manifested for the 
spiritual prosperity of the church, exhibited 
the beautiful model of a true Christian man. 
Not only was he prompt and regular in at- 



I76 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

tending to the means of grace in the Lord's 
house on the Sabbath ; but he would often 
travel miles on foot to meet his brethren in the 
prayer-meeting. Those precious seasons are 
well remembered still by some of us that were 
accustomed to meet with him on such occa- 
sions. Many of his elder brethren preceded 
him to the better land, and some are lingering 
still on the shores of time. 

His work on earth closed some eight or 
nine years ago, and by the bidding of his 
Divine Master whom he served so well, he 
has gone to his final home in heaven to reap 
the reward of the faithful. 

JAMES SWARTHOUT, ESQ. 
In this connection the above-named brother 
claims an honorable notice as one of our dear 
departed ones. He experienced religion and 
united with the Rhinebeck church some time 
during the earlier labors and great religious 
revivals in brother Wieting's churches. After 
this his greatest delight ever was to mingle 
with professed Christians — to hold converse 
with them upon religious subjects, and at all 
times to attend to all the ordinances of the 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 77 

church. He was one of the most active and 
efficient members in the prayer-meeting, and 
at times of religious revivals, we ever knew. 
The Master had blessed him with great fluency 
of speech, and in the exercise of prayer and 
singing he was exceedingly interesting. He 
was pre-eminently social and benevolent in his 
feelings — his society was very agreeable, and 
sought after by both old and young — and* 
hence, perhaps, no other member in the church 
had formed such an intimate and extensive 
acquaintance. 

He held with credit the civil office of Justice 
in his town for many years, and after serving 
the Lord for at least forty-five years, he was 
called away by death within the past year, to 
enjoy his eternal rest in heaven. 

AUGUSTUS MOELLER. 

This much-respected brother was a son of 
Dr. John C. Moeller, and became a subject of 
saving grace in 1840, during a religious revival 
in the Sharon church, of which he became a 
member some time after. Those who knew 
him best w r ill bear cheerful testimony to his 
unflagging zeal and devotion to the cause of 
12 



1/8 MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 

Christ. While health and opportunity per- 
mitted, he was always found actively engaged 
in the prayer circle, the Sabbath-school, the 
choir, and all the ordinances of God's house. 
He was, in the best sense of the term, a devout 
Christian man. His religious influence for 
good was felt in his own family, in the church 
and community at large. He suffered with a 
lingering disease for some length of time, but 
his faith and hope in Christ remained strong 
and undisturbed to the last. Having served 
Christ faithfully for about thirty-six years, 
when the hour of his departure came, his life 
went out as gently as the fading light of the 
closing day. 

In addition to the above-named brethren, 
whose lives and labors we have briefly and im- 
perfectly sketched, if time and space permitted, 
many others might be named, whose memory 
is enshrined in our hearts. We call up with 
mournful interest such dear brethren as George 
F. Dunkell, Philip Becker, William Engles, 
Peter Stall and Jonas Baxter, who were mem- 
bers of the Sharon and Rhinebeck churches 
— and likewise Benjamin Lehman, who for- 
merly w T as a member of the Rhinebeck church, 



MEMORIES OF OUR DEPARTED. 1 79 

but in 1839 entered into the organization of 
the Lutheran church at Argusville, where the 
writer was his pastor for about nineteen years. 
Of the large membership of that church, we 
regarded him as one of our best and tried 
friends, and with a sense of gratitude his 
many favors and fatherly counsels are still re- 
membered. 

And now, as brought to our attention in the 
preparation of these brief notices, we bid 
adieu again to the above-named brethren who 
have preceded us to the spirit world, with the 
fervent prayer and fond hope that God in His 
great goodness may grant his sustaining grace 
to all of us still lingering here, and that when 
we pass away we may meet all these dear de- 
parted ones in the better land where separation 
is unknown. 

HUMILITY. 

REV. S. W. YOUNG. 

It is' said that Sir Eardly Wilmot once called 
his son, a lad of seventeen years, to his side, 
and said to him : "I will tell you a secret worth 
knowing. My elevation, especially my last 
promotion, is not due to my superior abilities, 



l8o HUMILITY. 

nor to any particular merit of mine ; I owe it 
to my humility. I have never attempted to 
place myself above others, and have always 
endeavored to maintain a conscience void of 
offence toward God and toward man." This 
was an exemplification of the true philosophy 
of life. The valley of humiliation is man's ap- 
propriate position. We learn this from Him 
who was exalted above our highest conceptions. 
He emptied Himself of the divine glory, be- 
came man, and took upon Him the form of 
a servant. The wisdom which " puffeth up " 
may at times secure an advantage of even the 
lowly spirit, and excite aspirations which carry 
a man above and beyond the sphere for which 
he is fitted by his abilities. When one drifts 
into responsibilities transcending his qualifica- 
tions, all his movements make him miserable 
and all his tendencies are downward. " Before 
honor is humility." The loftiest pinnacle 
must be contemplated in the lowest vale. 
Superiority is attained by-" regarding others 
better than ourselves." St. Augustine says, 
" Should any one ask me concerning the Chris- 
tian religion, what it is, and what are the 
characteristics of the people who embrace it, 



HUMILITY. iSl 

I would answer that the first, second and third 
things therein — that all things are — humility.'' 
The Archbishop of Mentz was a remarkable 
example of this Christ-like virtue. He was 
the son of a wheelwright, and lest in his exal- 
tation, he should forget or disdain his humble 
origin, he hung wheels and the tools of the 
craft about his bed-chamber, and wrote under 
them in capital letters, "Wellegis, Wellegis, 
remember thy original ! " Gregory the great 
was born of noble parents ; yet he had so lit- 
tle respect for this hereditary honor, that he 
ofter said, and sometimes with tears in his 
eyes, "All glory is miserable if he on whom it 
rests does not seek after the glory of God." 

Humility is one of the most prominent and 
one of the most beautiful characteristics of the 
true Christian. It is the first lesson he learns 
in the school of Christ. He does not " think 
more highly of himself than he ought to 
think ;" but his estimate of himself is " sober, 
modest, truthful, as God has granted him the 
' measure of grace.' " He is content with his 
allotment. If he is reviled, he is ready with 
the philosopher to say, " Had he who reviled 
me known me better, he would have said 



1 82 HUMILITY. 

worse things about me." Though he is firm, 
yet he is " gentle and easy to be entreated." 
He bends before the storm like the reed, and 
recovers his uprightness when the blast is 
over, unlike the sturdy oak, which defies the 
tempest yet falls before it. 

Saul of Tarsus was fully plumed with Phar- 
isaical righteousness. Before the command- 
ment came he was inflated with self-compla- 
cency. How high he stood in his own esti- 
mation ! " Touching the law, I was blameless." 
What a contrast, when sin revived and he died ! 
" O wretched man that I am ! " He fell from 
his exaltation to the deepest self-abasement 
He became a fool that he might be wise; and 
humbling himself under the mighty hand of 
God, he was exalted in due time. But the 
fruits of humility are not fully to be realized in 
the present state. " It doth not yet appear 
what we shall be." Whatever our attainments 
here, we shall scarcely be able to read the title 
page of that endless volume, the full contents 
of which will be unfolded to us there. Now 
we "see through a glass darkly," then shall 
we see " face to face." The blessed Saviour, 
" whom having not seen we love," we shall in 



HUMILITY. 183 

the heavenly sphere see as He is ; and best of 
all, " we shall be like Him." 

And yet humility makes us firm. Resting 
upon no ambiguous foundation, it never recedes 
from the true positions which have been taken, 
never turns aside from the path of rectitude. 
The great founder of the Lutheran Church 
was a good example of decision of character, 
combined with true humility. In mind and 
heart he was not to be shaken by his adversa- 
ries. Fear of consequences never caused him 
to swerve from the claims of duty. He suf- 
fered many privations and many persecutions. 
He had many opportunities to command the 
applause of fame, many strong temptations to 
think more highly than he did think of him- 
self. But he was as unyielding against flattery 
as he was against opposition, 'And to-day on 
both sides of the waters there is no name 
more revered, none thought to be more fully 
identified with " the Name which is above 
every name," than that of Martin Luther. 

Humility begets contentment. The humble 
man is satisfied with the allotments God has 
given him. He has learned from the book of 
true wisdom that happiness, that life, does not 



184 HUMILITY. 

consist in the abundance of the good things of 
this world which a man may possess. He 
turns away from the fascinations to which the 
index ringer of pride and ambition points, and 
is more than satisfied with the good conscience 
which he enjoys in walking humbly with his 
God. His course through life is safe and 
peaceful, his hopes for the future are blessed 
and glorious. 

What a contrast between humility and pride! 
Humility takes the lowest seat, and conde- 
scends to mingle with those of low degree. 
Pride has a high look and a lofty aim, and 
chafes at everything more elevated. Humility 
rambles through verdant vales, along rippling 
streams, and breathes the odors of the flowers 
which bloom upon their banks. Pride blindly 
clambers for the mountain top, over dangerous 
cliffs, and finds itself at last where all is barren 
and bleak. Humility seeks the sylvan retreats 
of nature, and feels secure. Pride is tortured 
with vain desires which end in sorrowful dis- 
appointment. Humility seeks and is satisfied 
with the favor of God. Pride sacrifices every- 
thing for the applause of men. Humility ends 
in honor, glory, immortality, eternal life. Pride 



POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 1 85 

goes out in shame and everlasting contempt. 
Let the language of the Great Teacher com- 
plete the description. " He that humbleth 
himself shall be exalted, but he that exalteth 
himself shall be abased." 

THE POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILI- 
TIES OF THE FUTURE. 

REV. N. VAN ALSTINE. 

Some persons are chiefly imaginative: in a 
state of frenzied reverie they contemplate the 
future, and without safe premises in their rea- 
soning they are wild in their conclusions. 
Such are born and educated fanatics; they 
are unsafe as instructors and guides in science 
and in theology. Others are diligent and log- 
ical students in every field of natural and 
moral philosophy; they discover and compre- 
hend the developments of providence and his- 
torical verities ; in the events of the past they 
read the possibilities of the future, for history 
repeats itself. True, the unfoldings of the 
future may be more perfect than they were 
in the past ; yet the germs of events are seen 
to excite the hope for full maturity and per- 
fection in no distant future. This view of the 



1 86 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 

condition of the past and the future will place 
us on the standpoint where we may contem- 
plate and study the possibilities and proba- 
bilities of coming events. God alone fully 
knows the possibilities of the future, for He 
comprehends the contingent as well as the 
absolute ; while our knowledge is quite imper- 
fect, and limited largely by conjecture and 
superficiality; in the womb of the future are 
influences and laws to modify and shape devel- 
opments of events altogether different from 
our cherished anticipations. 

We will look, for a few moments, at the pos- 
sibilities of natural science. Science selects 
and groups together congenial truths or facts 
into a theory, and then by thorough investiga- 
tion we become acquainted with them as a 
system. Therefore we speak of the science of 
astronomy, geology, chemistry, music. From 
time immemorial, philosophical students have 
directed their attention and research into the 
starry heavens ; by the help of instruments they 
were enabled more thoroughly to investigate 
and understand the distances, size, and regu- 
larity of the rolling orbs in the immensity of 
space. In view of the past, the improvements 



POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 1 87 

made and increase of knowledge, who dares to 
predict that it is not possible to make new dis- 
coveries, and become more intimately ac- 
quainted with the science of astronomy? In 
view of the inventive genius of man and his 
unremitting application to study, there is quite 
a certainty of the possibility and probability 
that the starry firmament will be more thor- 
oughly explored, the laws of suns and plane- 
tary systems be better known and more fully 
understood. We dare put no limit to success 
in investigation and probabilities of future de- 
velopment. So it will be with the science of 
chemistry. Nature and the materials of earth 
will be subjected to a more thorough analysis, 
and new combinations, which will produce new 
substances. These experiments will disclose 
wonderful mysteries in nature. What now 
may appear perfect and defy further improve- 
ment, will then seem superficial and incipient, 
and open up a vast scope for future possibili- 
ties. This increasing knowledge in chemistry 
and geology, and in all sciences, will encour- 
age untiring research and effort to realize the 
probabilities of the future. Thus we shall un- 
derstand more of the philosophy and mysteries 



1 88 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 

of nature as we move onward in the progress 
of our endless existence. We can not assign 
any cogent reasons why study and progressive 
knowledge will cease beyond the boundary of 
time ; there, doubtless, they will have a fuller 
and more unobstructed scope. 

If in former ages the knowledge of truth and 
facts was quite imperfect and comparatively 
unproductive, and the sciences rested in obscur- 
ity ; how much more was this the condition of 
the arts ! When the sciences were mere theo- 
ries — abstract principles — the arts of the pres- 
ent day had no existence ; for these depend on 
practice — knowledge reduced to performance. 
This is the reason why the sciences and arts 
are wedded together, just as theory and prac- 
tice are united as cause and effect. The science 
of medicine precedes the art of practice ; the 
theory of music, the art of execution ; or the 
art of sculpture and of painting. Genius pro- 
duced arts, carried them to higher perfection 
and utility, and now they shine in brilliancy, 
and promise great usefulness to society and 
the world. The sculptor in his study con- 
ceives the ideal in his mind and imagination, 
and with his mallet and chisel brings forth 



POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 1 89 

from the cold and rough block of marble the 
form and features of the living being. The 
painter puts upon the canvass with pencil and 
brush the portrait, the variegated landscape, 
the whirling clouds in a thunder-storm, the 
wintry blast, the effulgent sunshine, the com- 
ing spring with bud and flower* As we gaze 
upon and study the painter's workmanship on 
the canvass, we have sentiments of admiration, 
joy, ecstasy. With these facts before us, the 
evidences of increasing perfection from the 
past, that progressive genius has executed, we 
have a right to anticipate greater perfection in 
the future. Experience in the past and the 
knowledge of increasing skill from age to age 
give assurance that there is room for higher 
attainments in science and art. As history 
repeats itself, there are unequivocal indications 
of progress and greater perfection. 

When water and electricity are brought into 
conjunction with suitable machinery and util- 
ized, how wonderful and vast are the results ! 
In ages past, water was employed for certain 
purposes of usefulness ; but how imperfect and 
within what narrow limits ! — for the world -was 
ignorant of the art to generate steam and utilize 



19O POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 

its mighty force in application to machinery; no 
steamboat to plow our rivers, lakes, and ocean 
with the commerce of the world; or to drive 
with speed a train of railroad cars across the 
continent ; or to move machinery so forcibly as 
to drive a thousand spindles and looms, iron- 
foundries, and machine-shops. These are 
scientific facts, that no river, lake, or ocean can 
hinder ; no rocky mountain and deep gorges 
are insuperable obstructions against them ; they 
either pass across, surmount, or perforate them. 
Electricity flashes along the wire, carries 
thoughts, feelings, purposes, and gives them 
embodiment in words into all parts of the 
world — so rapidly it carries news, that in one 
night pages of thought are read in every 
nationality of the civilized world ; rivers, 
mountains, and oceans, form no barrier. Soon 
electricity will be harnessed by the ingenuity 
and persistence of man, to engirdle the world 
and make it obedient to his behests. The tel- 
ephone annihilates space, and practically brings 
distant localities into one neighborhood, organ- 
ized into a social circle for mutual entertain- 
ment and congratulation. There was a time 
when such ideals were not born in the wildest 



POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. I9I 

imagination of man; but now they are undeni- 
able realities. Who dare now prescribe a lim- 
itation to greater perfection in the future ? 
What barrier within the realm of science and 
art shall interpose and close up all further 
progress ? What are the possibilities and prob- 
abilities of the future in science, in water, 
steam, and electricity ? The muscles of the 
heart send the life-currents into the extremities 
of the body, to give health, strength, activity 
in every part ; so all nature holds connection 
from centre to circumference, exerts a union 
of forces and mutual reactions. 

We cannot fail to see a large field for thought 
and study in the rise and progress of civiliza- 
tion and human government. In the land and 
age of darkness and gloom and barbarism, the 
people could hardly discern the twilight of civ- 
ilization, so faint and tardy came forth the ris- 
ing sun above the misty horizon ; yet in the 
process of time it was known as a reality. 
Now the power, influence, and light of civili- 
zation are wide-spread, constantly augmenting 
its transforming and refining power. Some 
nations enjoy the glory of the full orb of civili- 
zation, and exult in its fruition; but others are 



I92 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 

now being ushered into refreshing light and 
freedom. Civilization and free governments 
are realities, and are pushing forward into 
wider and more permanent victories. The grip 
01 usurpation and despotism is being paralyzed; 
oppressions are convulsed and thrown off as 
intolerable burdens ; cruelty is detested and an- 
athematized by the people ; all claim natural 
rights as the only basis of a just civil govern- 
ment They demand freedom and protection, 
and resent the condition of serfdom; yield obe- 
dience by consent of the governed and not by the 
iron rule of the autocrat. What progress do 
we behold in this direction for the last century ! 
In reading the history of the world in the past, 
dare we not anticipate marvelous and radical 
changes in civil governments — the possession 
by the people of greater freedom, the conces- 
sion in all lands of their natural rights? Is it not 
possible, yea, even probable, that in the convul- 
sions of nations, the threatening danger to 
crowned heads, and in the demand of the peo- 
ple for their freedom and rights, despotism 
shall fall as Dagon before the ark of God, 
autocracy be ground to powder under the mill- 
tone of republicanism, wielded for the protec- 



POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 1 93 

tion of all, guaranteeing the equality of all be- 
fore the law ? Is it not probable that the time 
will come when all nations shall establish their 
own governments, and wield the governmental 
powers ? The will of all shall be expressed by 
an unfettered elective franchise. No other 
government will be tolerated by the people, 
and all others will be regarded as usurpations. 
The most important phase of this subject is 
its feligious and moral relation and aspect — 
the Church, theology, Christianity. When 
God by the agency of his Word, Spirit and 
grace, has renovated the hearts of men, 
brought them into affiliation with Himself, im- 
bued the mind with love and worship, then we 
witness the nucleus of an organized Church. 
Although it may be small at first as mustard 
seed, yet it has growth, spreading its branches, 
giving shelter in sunshine and storm to the 
birds of the air. So the Church, at first, was 
small in comparison with the wide-spread and 
hoary kingdoms of the world, far less in num- 
ber than the devotees of darkness and idolatry; 
still the Church was able and successful in 
making conquests and enlarging her dominion. 
Her progress, at times, may have appeared 
13 



194 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 

slow, and tested the patience of saints, yet her 
conquests were sure and were maintained. 
Remarkable have been the conflicts and 
changes of the Church as she has passed from 
formalism to religious vitality, from cold and 
dead ceremonialism to the enjoyment of the 
life and power of godliness. It is not proble- 
matical, but a clear certainty, that the world is 
better now than it was in former ages. Frantic 
superstition, base idolatry, bloody persecution, 
pharisaic exclusiveness, stern opposition against 
the introduction of the gospel in many nation- 
alities of the earth, have either passed away or 
become greatly modified, so that the church 
has free course to glorify the gospel. All 
massive obstructions, as they once existed and 
menaced the Church, have melted away, and 
now the islands of the sea and dark Ethiopia 
are stretching out their hands of welcome to 
the missionaries and educators in divine truth. 
Changes as great now appear in the system 
of theology. All theology was stored away in 
a creed — a mere skeleton of doctrine, a theory 
of theological opinions — all controversy par- 
took of logomachy : but now theology has 
had a resurrection unto life ; no less bones, but 



POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. IQ5 

clothed with muscle, skin and beauty in addi- 
tion, ready for conquest. Theology now is the 
faith of saints, regarded as the essential found- 
ation of the beautiful temple of God, erected 
for worship and to fit souls for glory. A sound 
and living theology is the strength of the 
Church, a defense against the storms of time 
and assaults of enemies. The stand-point of 
theology, as now understood, permits all de- 
nominations to concentrate and affiliate, to 
some extent, and more than in ages past the 
hatchet of war is buried, greater unity of views 
and feeling now prevail. It may seem to some 
that when the people of God claim and exer- 
cise greater freedom, cherish more liberal views 
in theology, investigate the Bible for them- 
selves and receive doctrines independent of the 
dictum of the creed, they are treading on dan- 
gerous ground, and become guilty of latitudina- 
rianism. But is this position tenable, and will it 
prove a damage to pure theology? Is it not 
more than probable that, in the future, creeds 
will not shackle the mind and faith of the 
Church as they have done in time past? The 
Bible will be regarded practically, and not theo- 
retically, as the standard of faith ; and then all 



I96 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 

theological views shown to be in accord with 
the word of God will be approved, though in 
apparent conflict with the teachings of creeds." 
We concede this is so now by the confession of 
the religious world, but woe to the theologian 
who shall dare to put into practice this confes- 
sion. He will soon incur the lashes of critics 
and the thunder of condemnation as a heretic. 
Who does not know that the custom of the 
past was to gauge, mould and measure man's 
religious faith and life by creeds hoary with 
age, in defiance of the right to protest and 
maintain conscientious feelings and freedom of 
thought ? The pain must be borne, though 
the creed was as unfitting as a cramping 
Chinese shoe to the living foot. Shame on the 
Church and her theologians, if they are not as 
able, even now more so, to judge for them- 
selves what is the meaning of God's word, 
what doctrines are vital to salvation when 
practically cherished and woven in character, 
as those, who were good and honest men 
without doubt, who lived centuries ago. 
Popery may claim the right to do the thinking 
for the religious world ; but Protestanism can 
never usurp the right, for freedom of thought 



POSSIBILITIES NND PROBABILITIES. I97 

is natural and Divine — a law for mental and 
moral development. 

Christianity has fully proved the inherent 
right for self-existence, the power to repel all 
invasion, and unfurl the banner of the cross in 
triumph in all lands. True, the world has wit- 
nessed variance in success, at one time success 
and triumph, and then apparent defeat ; now 
progress, and then retrogression. At one period 
persecution raged, the blood of saints stained 
the gibbet and the soil, waitings of distress 
rent the heavens, God's altars were demolished, 
caves became the only safe retreats for those 
who loved and walked with God. These were 
times of hell's power and success; but there 
was not a full consummation of the diabolic 
purpose. If sin was let loose to work mischief 
and spit its venom on Christianity, and gained 
vantage over the Church, so the time and oc- 
casion were ushered in for God to prove His 
right to govern the affairs of earth and the 
destiny of our race, to vindicate the truthful- 
ness of religion, and to turn the battle-strife of 
earth into victory, to put to flight the army of 
the aliens, so that one should chase a thousand. 
God Himself resuscitated his despised cause, 



I98 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 

and made the nations quake before His all-sub- 
duing power. We see all this in the signs and 
progress of the great Reformation, It is true, 
the witnesses stood up and gave the testimony 
of God, but in sackcloth and ashes they un- 
covered their heads to vials of wrath of their 
enemies ; they seemingly succumbed before 
their persecuting power, and lay dead and dis- 
honored for three days and a half in the streets 
of the city, without burial or human sympathy. 
The cohorts of darkness and corruption re- 
joiced in their feasts, sending their congratula- 
tions over all the earth and shouts in their 
carnival, because, as they judged, that religion, 
the Bible, and the Church, were fully overcome 
and dead, and they feared no future trouble or 
warfare. But, lo ! just at that time the Spirit 
of God and of life came down from heaven 
and breathed into the dead witnesses, and they 
arose to renew with more strength and effect- 
iveness their testimony for God and the Church, 
to the astonishment and confusion of the 
world. Then the Bible was unsealed, the re- 
ligion of grace and justifying faith was im- 
planted anew in the hearts of the Reformers, 
the struggle of repentance and a Divine life 



POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 1 99 

was the birth of the Church-reformation. Chris- 
tianity took deep root and spread; its influence 
and power were felt among the people. They 
saw the day-dawn of righteousness coming 
from the east, advancing in increasing light 
toward its mid-day glory. The probability is 
reasonable and strong, that it will shine more 
and more unto the perfect day. 

The Bible, containing the revealed will of 
God, Divinely inspired and invested with su- 
preme authority over the faith of the world, 
has a substantial existence. It was given to 
the church in piecemeal, in due time collected 
and solidified into one book. For centuries it 
was copied by scribes > afterward printed and 
the copies greatly multiplied — so highly prized 
by the antiquarian, that a copy of the Bible, as 
first printed, was recently bought -for $8,000. 
As the art of printing became more perfected, 
copies of the Bible were more rapidly issued, 
and now they are multiplied by millions. The 
• distribution of the Bible is as wide-spread and 
numerous as the falling leaves of autumn. 
Each successive year opens a broader field for 
labor, a pressing demand for the word of -God, 
the possibility of issuing an increased number 



200 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 

of copies ; so that there is a strong probability 
that in the not distant future, every family on 
earth shall own a copy of the Bible. Since 
God has unsealed the book in the hand of His 
angel, given it to man to eat, to study, and to 
understand, in all its sweet and bitter fruit, 
we have the assurance it shall never be sealed 
again — become obscure by tradition, or hidden 
in dead languages, or be suppressed and ostra- 
cized by Popish edicts. The word of God is 
free to every student, and will guide into true 
freedom of conscience and grace from sin and 
condemnation. Whom the Son shall make 
free shall be free indeed. His word giveth 
light, for in Christ there is no darkness, no 
error, sin and death. This light shall shine, 
spread, and. illuminate, grow more luminous 
and brilliant, and penetrate every dark locality 
of the world. The probability of all this is 
not based upon mere conjecture, but upon the 
will and certainty of God, for His counsel shall 
stand, and His purpose shall be fulfilled. 

With the distribution of the Bible goes the 
benevolent work of missions. No missionary 
will enter the dark regions of the earth to en- 
lighten, to civilize, and to save the inhabitants, 



POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 201 

without the Bible. Where the missionary goes, 
there the Bible goes. Thus equipped for the 
work, darkness, superstition, and degradation 
will disappear, cruelty will retreat, refinement 
in habits and purity of thought will gain the 
ascendency. The missions of the Church in 
warfare on sin will carry the Bible as the battle- 
axe of God to demolish the citadels of Satan 
with great efficiency and success. In the past 
it was conceded that the world was so sinful 
and degraded, that to enlighten and to save 
was a hopeless task ; but now the problem is 
solved, for the missionary is seen in almost every 
land, his foot marks the soil of many coun- 
tries, and his voice is heard amid the confu- 
sion of disorder and sin to reprove and instruct 
in truth. The mission of the Church has 
proved that there are no insuperable barriers 
to success in human degradation and wicked 
resistance — every valley can be traversed and 
every mountain can be scaled — salvation is 
offered to all, and all are welcome to come to 
Christ and live. There is an assured probabil- 
ity that missionary stations will be planted 
everywhere, that laborers will be multiplied in 
numbers and be increased in courage and 



202 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 

strength until final conquest. Then the shout 
on the harvest fields of the world will go up 
and blend in harmony, joyfully declaring that 
the kingdoms of earth have become the king- 
dom of Christ, and that He shall forever reign 
as King of nations. 

The intelligence of the world, knowledge 
and wisdom, are essential to compass the pur- 
poses of God. The universal diffusion of 
knowledge is vital to enduring civilization, the 
establishment of the kingdom of God, the 
conquest of the world. When many go to 
and fro knowledge will increase, institutions of 
education will be organized and endowed. 
These will become fountains of living waters 
of knowledge, sending forth constant and en- 
larged streams to fertilize the soil of so- 
ciety and mature the harvest of mental and 
moral culture. There is an absolute certainty 
that such institutions will be constantly multi- 
plying and become more effective. What they 
have done in the past, will indicate what can 
be done in the future, when established on a 
firmer basis and made more perfect in machin- 
ery. The stream of knowledge and science 
will enlarge and deepen and spread as a sea of 



POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 203 

glory. Since the system of common-schools 
is adapted to be co-extensive with our race, 
they will be feeders to our seminaries, colleges 
and universities, and all contribute to the im- 
provement of our race. There is a probable 
tendency to a higher standard of education in 
all our professions, in law, in medicine, and in 
theology ; and this coveted state of education 
will inevitably conduce to a deeper and a more 
universal diffusion of knowledge, in the lower 
order as well as the higher order of society. 
When we look at the possibilities in this field 
of operation in the present century, the multi- 
plication of institutions of learning, their large 
and increasing endowments, their high stand- 
ard and effectiveness, we may legitimately an- 
ticipate a bold and mighty advance in the 
future. We know not now, but the l^orld shall 
know. 

What do we see in the field in which we 
now meet, and to which our special attention is 
invited? What were its moral condition and 
intellectual status fifty years ago ? What is the 
aspect of the field at the present time ? What 
are the probabilities in the future ? Fifty 
years ago, or more, educational training was 



204 POSSIBILITIES AND PROBABILITIES. 

imperfect, in books studied and literary disci- 
pline administered. Vital piety was sickly and 
even less devotional and perfect, and that con- 
fined to but few. We could not count many 
who were really consecrated to the service of 
God. Thank God there were some ; here and 
there a few stood up for Christ. There was, 
however, less religion than horse-racing, gam- 
bling, revelry and dissipation. But we see im- 
provement for the better in many respects. In 
the place of two comparatively feeble churches, 
we have seven congregations and houses of 
worship. For one pastor then, w 7 e have five. 
We have religious strength, devotion, largely 
increased numbers and intelligence, fruitful 
benevolence and grace enriching many hearts. 
From this vantage ground we now occupy, we 
have the right to anticipate progress in educa- 
tion and in every department of religious 
activity and life. The kingdom of God should 
be built up in greater conformity, to the will of 
God, in the renewal of our spiritual life, greater 
activity and holiness of heart. The churches 
should shine in greater effulgence and to the 
honor of God — forget the past and press for- 
ward for higher attainments, so as to partake 



CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 205 

more fully of the Divine nature and the pre- 
cious .faith of saints. Even to this gracious 
state, we should add courage, knowledge, 
charity, brotherly kindness, self-government, 
standing firm for God. With such piety we 
will never be unfruitful, nor forget that we were 
cleansed. We shall walk with God, enjoy the 
sunlight of His presence, cherish a bright hope 
to lead us up to heaven and enter our final 
rest. 

CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 

REV. M. W. EMPIE. 

It may be asked, What do we know of the 
future ? Of our own knowledge, nothing — 
*and yet by experience, logic, and mathematics, 
we know a great many things, i. e., we are able 
to form correct conclusions, and forecast events. 
We may say, if such and such things continue, 
then such and such events are sure to follow — 
e. g. t while this world remains, we shall have 
sunrise and sunset, as in the past, and a succes- 
sion of day and night, and of the seasons. 
The moon will wax and wane, and at such 
particular times and places we shall have 
eclipses of the sun and of the moon. 



206 CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 

So, experimentally, we know that what has 
been will be — we shall have summer and win- 
ter, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, wet 
and dry, storm and calm, prosperity and ad- 
versity; for, as Solomon says, "There is no new 
thing under the s?m. ,} The human race will be 
perpetuated indefinitely. As in the past chil- 
dren were born, grew up, married, scattered, 
bought, sold, reared families, labored, fretted, 
grew rich, poor, old, and were gathered to 
the fathers — so it will be. 

As in the past, dwellings, storehouses, 
churches, and school-buildings, were built, re- 
paired, decayed, passed away, and were replaced 
by new and better ones — so it zvill be. As in 
the past the growth of the good and true was 
difficult and slow, e. g. y fruitful countries, thriv- 
ing cities, successful business and civil interests 
— industry, honor, virtue, intelligence, benevo- 
lence, piety, etc — while the springing up and 
increase of noxious ways and vices were rapid 
and spontaneous — so it will be. 

Knowledge will increase ; wonderful discov- 
eries will continue to be made. Surprising in- 
ventions will yet be wrought out, and marked 
improvements will be made in agriculture, 



CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 20J 

mechanics, commerce, manufactures, and po- 
litical economy. The earth's surface will 
undergo marvelous transformations — hills will 
be reduced, valleys will be elevated, wilder- 
nesses and barren places will be made beautiful 
and fruitful. Solitary places will become thriv- 
ing villages and populous cities. Literature, 
science, art, etc., will grow to astonishing pro- 
portions, so that each succeeding generation 
will pity the stupidity and undeveloped state of 
the preceding, and glory exceedingly in their 
own attainments. 

From the evident design and tendency of 
things, there will be great improvements in 
our social and moral conditions and relations. 
All these elements are in commotion, promis- 
ing a better, purer end. There will surely 
come a higher state of domestic and social 
life, a more elevated state of business activity, 
and the moral atmosphere will become more 
pure and healthful. The soul of man is groan- 
ing for this. 

In addition to conditional and contingent 
sources of knowledge respecting future events, 
we have an infallible and Divine revelation, a 
"sure word of prophecy" which opens to us a 



208 CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 

wide door, through which we may look and 
see many things both of time and eternity 
clearly revealed. From this source of infor- 
mation we understand 

1. That knowledge, benevolence and true 
religion will increase in the earth, until human 
and Christian character are fully developed, 
and the nations of the world live in peace and 
harmony together. 

2. That our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, 
will be acknowledged and accepted, of all na- 
tions and distinctions, as the Messiah — the Son 
of God, sent into the world as the sufficient 
and only Redeemer of lost men, (i. e.) Jews, 
Mohammedans, Pagans, Infidels, etc., will so 
acknowledge him. " / will draw all men unto 
me!' 

3. That the Christian Church will prevail 
and embrace all people and tongues — " the 
heathen, and the uttermost parts of the earth." 
Technical names and distinctions will gradu- 
ally be lost, " as star by star declines in morn- 
ing's dawn/' and there will be one fold and one 
Shepherd. 

4. That this world shall cease to be — nature's 
wheels will cease to roll — and the heavens and 



CERTAINTIES OF THE FUTURE. 2CXJ 

the earth that now are will vanish away. They 
will either be annihilated, or so renewed and 
refined by fire, as to constitute a new heaven 
and a new earth, as the Lord will. 

5. With the end of the world, the human 
race will no longer be propagated. All the 
dead will be raised to life again — and they, to- 
gether with the generation then alive, shall be 
changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
eye, from natural to spiritual, from mortal to 
immortal ; and henceforth, the resurrection 
body glorified and the disembodied spirit shall 
be reunited, and dwell forever in the state for 
which they are fitted in this life time. The 
" righteous," in God's account, shall be forever 
holy and happy in heaven ; while the unright- 
eous in His account shall be forever sinful and 
miserable in hell. 

Filially, We who are here now, actors in 
life's drama, as the fathers were before us, will 
in our turn pass away, and our places will be 
occupied by successors, who in due time again 
will make room for others. Wherefore seeing 
we look for such things, let us be diligent that 
we may be found of Him in peace, without 
spot and blameless. " Therefore beloved, see- 
14 



2IO CLOSING EXERCISES. 

ing ye know these things before, beware lest ye 
also, being led away with the error of the 
wicked, fall from your own steadfastness." 

CLOSING EXERCISES. 

These were intended to occupy the evening, 
but during the entire day the weather was un- 
propitious. The collation, which was to have 
been provided in the grove, was partaken of in 
the church ; and, as the falling rain forbade an 
evening gathering, the closing exercises were 
engaged in during the afternoon. The Pastor's 
parting words are crowded out for want of 
room. All the last utterances were impressive. 
The singing, with which the services were in- 
terspersed, was appropriate, and especially the 
closing piece. It was a moment of sublime 
interest. The thoughts and emotions of that 
scene will be lasting as life. 



INDEX, 



Preface 

Historical Fidelity . . . 
Ministerial Children of the Church 
Sisterhood of Churches 
Local Influences . 
Unbroken Ties , 

Gracious Providences . 

Poem 

The Field in 1831 . 
My Youthful Days 
Relics of the Reformation 
Irrepressible Conflict 
Healthful Tendencies . 
Ultimate Results 
Mission of Lutheranism 
First in Honor, First in Service 
The Memories of Our Departed 
Humility . . . . 
Possibilities and Probabilities 
Certainties of the Future . 
Closing Exercises . 

(211) 



5 

24 

27 

3 2 

45 

5° 
62 

69 
80 

87 

98 

114 

123 

127 

141 

147 
180 
185 
206 
210 



